THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


KING    PENGUINS. 


ECCENTRICITIES 


THE    ANIMAL    CREATION, 


BY  JOHN  TIMES, 

ATJTHOB  OP  "THINGS  NOT  GENEBALLY  KNOWN." 


WITH  EIGHT  ENGRAVINGS. 


SEELEY,  JACKSON,  AND  HALLIDAY,  54,  FLEET-STKEET. 
LONDON.    MDCCCLXIX. 


The  right  of  translation  is  reserved. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY.— CURIOSITIES  OF  ZOOLOGY. 

Natural  History  in  Scripture,  and  Egyptian  Records,  11. — Origin  of 
Zoological  Gardens,  12. — The  Greeks  and  Komans,  12. — Mon- 
tezuma's  Zoological  Gardens,  13. — Menagerie  in  the  Tower  of 
London,  14.— Menagerie  in  St.  James's  Park,  14. — John  Eve- 
lyn's Notes,  15.  —  Ornithological  Society,  15.  —  Continental 
Gardens,  16. — Zoological  Society  of  London  instituted,  16  j  its 
most  remarkable  Animals,  16. — Cost  of  Wild  Animals,  18. — 
Sale  of  Animals,  20.— Surrey  Zoological  Gardens,  20.— Wild- 
beast  Shows,  21. 

THE  RHINOCEROS  IN  ENGLAND. 
Ancient  History,  22,  23.— One-horned  and  Two-horned,  25,  26.— 
Tractability,  25. — Bruce  and  Sparmann,  27. — African  Rhiuoce- 
ros  in  1868,  27.— Description  of,  29.— Burchell's  Rhinoceros, 
30.— Horn  of  the  Rhinoceros,  31,  32. 

STORIES  OF  MERMAIDS. 

Sirens  of  the  Ancients,  33.— Classic  Pictures  of  Mermaids,  34. — 

Leyden's  Ballad,  35.— Ancient  Evidence,  36,  37,  38.— Mermaid 

in  the  West  Indies,  39. — Mermaids,  Seals,  and  Dugongs,  41. — 

Mermaids  and  Manatee,  42. — Test  for  a  Mermaid,  43. — Mer- 

A   2 


4  CONTENTS. 

maid  of  1822,  43.— Japanese  Mermaids,  44. — Eecent  Evidence, 
47,  48. 

IS  THE  UNICOEN  FABULOUS  ? 

Ctesias  and  Wild  Asses,  65.— Aristotle,  Herodotus,  and  Pliny,  50. 
— Modern  Unicorns,  50. — Ancient  Evidence,  51. — Hunting  the 
Unicorn,  52. — Antelopes,  53,  54. — Cuvier  and  the  Oryx,  54. — 
Tibetan  Animal,  55. — Klaproth's  Evidence,  55.— Kev.  John 
Campbell's  Evidence,  57. — Baikie  on,  58. — Eactitious  Horns 
in  Museums,  59. — Unicorn  in  the  Royal  Arms,  60. — Catching 
the  Unicorn,  60.— Belief  in  Unicorns,  61. 

THE  MOLE  AT  HOME. 

Economy  of  the  Mole,  62.— Its  Structure,  63.— Eairy  Kings  ;  Feel- 
ing of  the  Mole,  64.— Le  Court's  Experiments,  62,  65. — 
Hunting-grounds,  67.— Loves  of  the  Moles,  68,  69.— Persecu- 
tion of  Moles.— Shrew  Mole,  70. — Hogg,  the  Ettrick  Shepherd, 
on  Moles,  71. 

THE  GEEAT  ANT-BEAK. 

The  Ant-Bear  of  1853,  72,  73. — Mr.  Wallace,  on  the  Amazon,  de- 
scribes the  Ant-Bear,  73.— Food  of  the  Ant-Bear,  74.— His 
Eesorts,  75.— Habits  in  Captivity,  by  Professor  Owen,  76  80. 
—Fossil  Ant-Bear,  80,  81.— Tamandua  Ant-Bear,  82— Yon 
Sack's  Ant-Bear,  83.— Porcupine  Ant-Eater,  84.— Ant-Bears  i 
the  Zoological  Gardens,  84. 

CUEIOSITIES  OF  BATS. 

Virgil's  Harpies,  85. — Pliny  on  the  Bat,  85. — Eeremouse  and 
Flittermouse,  86. — Bats,  not  Birds  but  Quadrupeds,  87.— Sir 
Charles  Bell  on  the  Wing  of  the  Bat,  87.— Vampire  Bat  from 
Sumatra,  88. — Lord  Byron  and  Vampire,  89. — Levant  Super- 
stition, 89. — Bat  described  by  Heber,  Waterton,  and  Steadman, 
90.— Lesson  on  Bats,  91. — Bat  Fowling  or  Folding,  91,  92. — 


CONTENTS.  5 

Sowerby's  Long-eared  Bat,  92,  96.— Wing  of  the  Bat,  96.— 
Nycteris  Bat,  97. — Kalong  Bat  of  Java,  98.— Bats,  various, 
100,  101. 

THE  HEDGEHOG. 

Hedgehog  Described,  102.— Habits,  103.— Eating  Snakes,  105.— 
Poisons,  105,  106.— Battle  with  a  Viper,  105.— Economy  of  the 
Hedgehog,  106,  107. 

THE  HIPPOPOTAMUS  IN  ENGLAND. 

Living  Hippopotamus  brought  to  England  in  1850,  108.— Capture 
and  Conveyance,  111. — Professor  Owen's  Account,  111-115. — 
Described  by  Naturalists  and  Travellers,  115-118.— Utility  to 
Man,  118-119.— Ancient  History,  119.— In  Scripture,  120.— 
Alleged  Disappearance,  121.—  Fossil,  122. 

LION-TALK. 

Character,  123. — Reputed  Generosity,  125. — Burchell's  Account, 
125. — Lion- Tree  in  the  Mantatee  Country,  127. — Lion-hunt- 
ing, 128. — Disappearance  of  Lions,  130,  131. — Human  Prey, 
132. — Maneless  Lions  of  Guzerat,  134. — A  Lion  Family  in 
Bengal,  135,  136.— Prickle  on  the  Lion's  Tail,  137-139.— 
Nineveh  Lions,  139.— Lions  in  the  Tower  of  London,  140,  141. 
— Feats  with  Lions,  142.— Lion-hunting  in  Algeria,  by  Jules 
Gerard,  144.— The  Prudhoe  Lions,  144. 

BIRD-LIFE. 

Eate  at  which  Birds  fly,  145, 146.— Air  in  the  Bones  of  Birds,  146. 
— Flight  of  the  Humming-bird,  147. — Colour  of  Birds,  148. — 
Song  of  Birds,  149. — Beauty  in  Animals,  150. — Insectivorous 
Birds,  151.— Sea-fowl  Slaughter,  152. — Hooded  Crow  in  Zet- 
land, 154.— Brain  of  Birds,  154. — Danger-signals,  155. — Addi- 
son's  Love  of  Nature,  156, 157. 


6  CONTENTS. 

BIRDS'  EGGS  AND  NESTS. 

Colours  of  Eggs,  158.— Bird's-nesting,  159.— Mr.  Wolley,  the 
Ornithologist,  159,  160.— European  Birds  of  Prey,  161. — Large 
Eggs,  162,  163,  164— Baya's  Nest,  164.— Oriole  and  Tailor- 
bird,  165,  166.— Australian  Bower-bird,  167.— Cape  Swallows, 
168.—"  Bird  Confinement,"  by  Dr.  Livingstone. 

THE  EPICURE'S  ORTOLAN. 

Origin  of  the  Ortolan,  172;  described,  173,  174;  Fattening  process, 
175, 176.— Prodigal  Epicurism,  177,  178. 

TALK  ABOUT  TOUCANS. 

Toucan  family,  179.— Gould's  grand  Monograph,  180. — Toucans 
described,  180-182;  Food,  183;  Habits,  184.— Gould's  Tou- 
canet,  187. 

ECCENTRICITIES  OF  PENGUINS. 

Penguins  on  Dassent  Island,  188. — Patagonian  Penguins,  189. — 
Falkland  Islands,  189. — King  Penguins,  190,  191.— Darwin's 
Account,  192. — Webster's  Account^  193.— Swainson's  Account, 
194 

PELICANS  AND  CORMORANTS. 

Pelicans  described  by  various  Naturalists,  195,  196.— The  Pelican 
Island,  197.— Popular  Error,  199-200. — Cormorants,  and 
Fishing  with  Cormorants,  201-204. 

TALKING  BIRDS,  INSTINCTS,  ETC. 
Sounds  by  various  Birds,  204.— Umbrella  Bird,  206.— Bittern, 
207.— Butcher-bird  and  Parrots,  208.— Wild  Swan,  Laughing 
Goose,  Cuckoo,  and  Nightingale,  209. — Talking  Canaries, 
210.— Neighing  Snipe,  213.— Trochilos  and  Crocodiles,  216. 
— Instinct,  Intelligence,  and  Eeason  in  Birds,  217-219.— Songs 
of  Birds  and  Seasons  of  the  Day,  219. 


CONTEXTS.  7 

OWLS. 

Characteristics  of  the  Owl,  221.— Owl  in  Poetry,  222.— Bischacho 
or  Coquimbo,  224.— Waterton  on  Owls,  225,  226.— Owls, 
Varieties  of,  227-230. 

WEATHEE-WISE  ANIMALS. 

Atmospheric  Changes,  231. — Stormy  Petrel,  233.— Wild  Geese  and 
Ducks,  235.— Frogs  and  Snails,  237.— The  Mole,  240.— List  of 
Animals,  by  Forster,  the  Meteorologist,  241. — Weatherproof 
Nests,  247.—"  Signs  of  Eain,"  by  Darwin,  248.— Shepherd  of 
Banbury,  249. 

FISH-TALK. 

How  Fishes  Swim,  250.— Fish  Changing  Colour,  251.— "  Fish 
Noise,"  252.— Hearing  of  Fish,  253.— The  Carp  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  254,  255.— Affection  of  Fishes,  256.— Cat-fish,  Anecdote 
of,  257.— Great  Number  of  Fishes,  258.— Little  Fishes  Eaten  by 
Medusse,  259.— Migration  of  Fishes,  261. — Enormous  Grampus, 
262.— Bonita  and  Flying-fish,  263. — Jaculator  Fish  of  Java, 
264.— Port  Koyal,  Jamaica  Fish,  266.— The  Shark,  267.— 
California,  Fish  of,  268.— Wonderful  Fish,  269.— Yast  Sun- 
fish,  271.— Double  Fish,  272.— The  Square-browed  Malthe, 
274.— Gold  Fish,  275.— The  Miller's  Thumb,  276.— Sea-fish 
Observatory,  276.— Herring  Question,  278. — Aristotle's  His- 
tory of  Animals,  279-280. 

FISH  IN  BEITISH  COLOMBIA. 

Salmon-swarming,  281.— Candle-fish,  282.— Octopus,  the,  283.— 
Sturgeon  and  Sturgeon  Fishing,  283-287. 

THE  TEEE-CLIMBING  CEAB. 

Locomotion  of  Fishes,  288. — Climbing  Perch,  288.— Crabs  in  the 
West  Indies,  289.— Crabs,  Varieties  of,  289-292.— Robber  and 
Cocoa-nut  Crab,  292-301.— Fish  of  the  China  Seas,  301. 


8  CONTENTS. 

MUSICAL  LIZAEDS. 
Lizard  from  Formosa  Isle,  303.— Its  Habits,  304-306. 

CHAMELEONS  AND  THEIE  CHANGES. 

The  Chameleon  described  by  Aristotle  and  Calmet,  307,  308. — 
Change  of  Colour,  309.— Eeproduction  of,  310,  311.— Tongue, 
311.— Lives  in  Trees,  312.— Theory  of  Colours,  313.— The 
Puzzle  Solved,  315.— Mrs.  Belzoni's  Chameleons,  317.— Lady 
Cust's  Chameleons,  321.— Chameleon's  Antipathy  to  Black,  322. 

EUNNING  TOADS. 

Dr.  Husenbeth's  Toads  at  Cossey,  327.— Frog  and  Toad  Concerts, 
327. 

SONG  OF  THE  CICADA. 

Greeks'  Love  for  the  Song,  329. — Cicada  in  British  Colombia,  329. 
— Tennyson  and  Keats  on  the  Grasshopper,  330. 

STOEIES  ABOUT  THE  BAENACLE  GOOSE. 
Baptista  Porta's  Account,  331.— Max  Muller  on,  331.— Gerarde's 
Account,  332.— Giraldus  Cambrensis,  332.  —Professor  Kolles- 
ton,  Drayton's  Poly-olbion^  333. — Sir  Kenelm  Digby  and  Sir  J. 
Emerson  Tennent,  334.— Finding  the  Barnacle,  334. 

LEAVES  ABOUT  BOOKWOEMS. 

Bookworms,  their  Destructiveness,  336,  337.— How  to  Destroy,  338. 
—The  Death-watch,  339.— Lines  by  Swift,  340. 

BOEING    MAEINE   ANIMALS,    AND    HUMAN 
ENGINEEES. 

Life  and  Labours  of  the  Pholas,  341.— Family  of  the  Pholas,  342.— 
Curious  Controversy,  343. — Boring  Apparatus,  342.— Several 
Observers,  347,  348.— Boring  Annelids,  348. 


LIST   OP   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


KING  PENGUINS Frontispiece 

THE  TWO-HORNED  AFRICAN  RHINOCEROS          ...  28 

SEAL  AND  MERMAID 40 

THE  GREAT  ANT-BEAR  (ZOOLOGICAL  SOCIETY'S)        .        .  76 

ERASER'S  EAGLE  OWL,  FROM  FERNANDO  PO  228 
SQUARE-BROWED  MALTHE  AND  DOUBLE  FISH           .        .274 

THE  TREE-CLIMBING  CRAB 288 

CHAMELEONS   .  318 


ECCENTRICITIES 


THE  ANIMAL  CREATION. 


INTRODUCTORY.— CURIOSITIES  OF  ZOOLOGY. 

lUJRIOTJS  creatures  of  Animal  Life  have 
been  objects  of  interest  to  mankind  in 
all  ages  and  countries;  the  universality  of 
which  may  be  traced  to  that  feeling  which  "  makes 
the  whole  world  kin." 

It  has  been  remarked  with  emphatic  truth  by  a 
popular  writer,  that  "  we  have  in  the  Bible  and  in  the 
engraven  and  pictorial  records  the  earliest  evidence 
of  the  attention  paid  to  Natural  History  in  general. 
The  ( navy  of  Tarshish '  contributed  to  the  wisdom 
of  him  who  not  only  '  spake  of  the  trees  from  the 
cedar  of  Lebanon,  even  unto  the  hyssop  that 
springeth  out  of  the  wall/  but  '  also  of  beasts,  and 
of  fowls,  and  of  creeping  things,  and  of  fishes,'  *  to 

*  1  Kings  iv.  10. 


12  INTRODUCTORY. 

say  nothing  of  numerous  other  passages  showing 
the  progress  that  zoological  knowledge  had  already 
made.  The  Egyptian  records  bear  testimony  to  a 
familiarity  not  only  with  the  forms  of  a  multitude 
of  wild  animals,  but  with  their  habits  and  geo- 
graphical distribution." 

The  collections  of  living  animals,  now  popularly 
known  as  Zoological  Gardens,  are  of  considerable 
antiquity.  We  read  of  such  gardens  in  China  as  far 
back  as  2,000  years ;  but  they  consisted  chiefly  of 
Borne  favourite  animals,  such  as  stags,  fish,  and 
tortoises.  The  Greeks,  under  Pericles,  introduced 
peacocks  in  large  numbers  from  India.  The  Romans 
had  their  elephants ;  and  the  first  giraffe  in  Home, 
under  Caesar,  was  as  great  an  event  in  the  history  of 
zoological  gardens  at  its  time  as  the  arrival  in  1849  of 
the  Hippopotamus  was  in  London.  The  first  zoolo- 
gical garden  of  which  we  have  any  detailed  account 
is  that  in  the  reign  of  the  Chinese  Emperor,  Wen 
Wang,  founded  by  him  about  1150  A.D.,  and  named 
by  him  "  The  Park  of  Intelligence ;  "  it  contained 
mammalia,  birds,  fish,  and  amphibia.  The  zoological 
gardens  of  former  times  served  their  masters  occa- 
sionally as  hunting-grounds.  This  was  constantly 
the  case  in  Persia ;  and  in  Germany,  so  late  as  1576, 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  II.  kept  such  a  park  for 
different  animals  near  his  castle,  Neugebah,  in  which 
he  frequently  chased. 

Alexander  the  Great  possessed  his  zoological 
gardens.  We  find  from  Pliny  that  Alexander  had 
given  orders  to  the  keepers  to  send  all  the  rare 


CURIOSITIES   OF   ZOOLOGY.  13 

and  curious  animals  which  died  in  the  gardens  to 
Aristotle. 

Splendid  must  have  been  the  zoological  gardens 
which  the  Spaniards  found  connected  with  the 
Palace  of  Montezuma.  The  letters  of  Ferdinand 
Cortez  and  other  writings  of  the  time,  as  well  as 
more  recently  "  The  History  of  the  Indians,"  by 
Antonio  Herrera,  give  most  interesting  and  detailed 
accounts  of  the  menagerie  in  Montezuma' s  park. 
The  buildings  belonging  to  these  gardens  were  all 
gorgeous,  as  became  the  grandeur  of  the  Indian 
prince ;  they  were  supported  by  pillars,  each  of 
which  was  hewn  out  of  a  single  piece  of  some 
precious  stone.  Cool,  arched  galleries  led  into  the 
different  parts  of  the  garden — to  the  marine  and 
fresh-water  basins,  containing  innumerable  water- 
fowl,— to  the  birds  of  prey,  falcons  and  eagles, 
which  latter  especially  were  represented  in  the 
greatest  variety, — to  the  crocodiles,  alligators,  and 
serpents,  some  of  them  belonging  to  the  most 
venomous  species.  The  halls  of  a  large  square 
building  contained  the  dens  of  the  lions,  tigers, 
leopards,  bears,  wolves,  and  other  wild  animals. 
Three  hundred  slaves  were  employed  in  the  gardens 
tending  the  animals,  upon  which  great  care  was 
bestowed,  and  scrupulous  attention  paid  to  their 
cleanliness.  To  this  South  American  zoological 
garden  of  the  sixteenth  century  no  other  of  its 
time  could  be  compared.* 

More  than  six  centuries  ago,  our  Plantagenet 
*  "Athemeum." 


14  INTRODUCTORY. 

kings  kept  in  the  Tower  of  London  exotic  animals 
for  their  recreation.  The  Lion  Tower  was  built  here 
by  Henry  III.,  who  commenced  assembling  here  a 
menagerie  with  three  leopards  sent  to  him  by  the 
Emperor  Frederic  II.,  "in  token  of  his  regal  shield 
of  arms,  wherein  those  leopards  were  pictured." 
Here,  in  1255,  the  Sheriffs  built  a  house  "  for  the 
King's  elephant,"  brought  from  France,  and  the 
first  seen  in  England.  Our  early  sovereigns  had  a 
mews  in  the  Tower  as  well  as  a  menagerie  : — 

"  Merry  Margaret,  as  Midsomer  flowre, 
Gentyll  as  faucon  and  hawke  of  the  Towre." — Skelton. 

In  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  a  sort  of  Royal  Mena- 
gerie took  the  place  of  the  deer  with  which  St. 
James's  Park  was  stocked  in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII. 
and  Queen  Elizabeth.  Charles  II.  greatly  enlarged 
and  improved  the  Park ;  and  here  he  might  be  seen 
playing  with  his  dogs  and  feeding  his  ducks.  The 
Bird-cage  Walk,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Park,  had 
in  Charles's  time  the  cages  of  an  aviary  disposed 
among  the  trees.  Near  the  east  end  of  a  canal  was 
the  Decoy,  where  water-fowl  were  kept ;  and  here 
was  Duck  Island,  with  its  salaried  Governor. 

Evelyn,  in  1664,  went  to  "  the  Physique  Garden 
in  St.  James's,"  where  he  first  saw  "  orange  trees 
and  other  fine  trees."  He  enumerates  in  the  mena- 
gerie, "  an  ornocratylus,  or  pelican ;  a  fowle  between 
a  storke  and  a  swan;  a  melancholy  water-fowl, 
brought  from  Astracan  by  the  Russian  ambassador ; 
a  milk-white  raven;  two  Balearian  cranes,"  one  of 


CURIOSITIES   OF    ZOOLOGY.  15 

which  had  a  wooden  leg  "  made  by  a  soulder :"  there 
were  also  "  deere  of  severall  countries,  white,  spotted 
like  leopards ;  antelopes,  an  elk,  red  deer,  roebucks, 
staggs,  Guinea  goates,  Arabian  sheepe,  &c."  There 
were  "  withy-potts,  or  nests,  for  the  wild  fowle  to  lay 
their  eggs  in,  a  little  above  ye  surface  of  ye  water." 

"25  Feb.  1664.  This  night  I  walk'd  into  St. 
James  his  Parke,  where  I  saw  many  strange  crea- 
tures, as  divers  sorts  of  outlandish  deer,  Guiny  sheep, 
a  white  raven,  a  great  parrot,  a  storke.  .  .  .  Here 
are  very  stately  walkes  set  with  lime  trees  on  both 
sides,  and  a  fine  pallmall."  * 

Upon  the  eastern  island  is  the  Swiss  Cottage  of 
the  Ornithological  Society,  built  in  1841  with  a 
grant  of  300/.  from  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury :  it 
contains  a  council-room,  keepers'  apartments,  steam- 
hatching  apparatus;  contiguous  are  feeding-places 
and  decoys ;  and  the  aquatic  fowl  breed  on  the 
island,  making  their  own  nests  among  the  shrubs 
and  grasses. 

The  majority  of  Zoological  Gardens  now  in  exist- 
ence have  been  founded  in  this  century,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  which,  although 
founded  in  1626,  did  not  receive  its  first  living 
animals  until  the  year  1793-1794.  Hitherto,  it  had 
been  a  Garden  of  Plants  exclusively. 

"We  shall  not  be  expected  to  enumerate  the  great 
Continental  gardens,  of  which  that  at  Berlin,  half 
an  hour's  drive  beyond  the  Brandenburg  gates, 
contains  the  Royal  Menagerie  ;  it  is  open  upon  the 
payment  of  an  admission  fee,  and  generally  resembles 

*  Journal  of  Mr.  E,  Browne,  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne. 


16  INTRODUCTORY. 

our  garden  at  the  Regent's  Park.  Berlin  has  also 
its  Zoological  Collection  in  its  Museum  of  Natural 
History.  This  collection  is  one  of  the  richest  and 
most  extensive  in  Europe,  especially  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Ornithology  :  it  includes  the  birds  collected 
by  Pallas  and  Wildenow,  and  the  fishes  of  Bloch. 
The  best  specimens  are  those  from  Mexico,  the  Red 
Sea,  and  the  Cape.  The  whole  is  exceedingly  well 
arranged,  and  named  for  the  convenience  of  students. 
Still,  our  Zoological  Collection  in  the  British  Museum 
(to  be  hereafter  removed  to  South  Kensington)  is 
allowed  to  be  the  finest  in  Europe. 

The  Zoological  Society  of  London  was  instituted 
in  1826,  and  occupies  now  about  seventeen  acres  of 
gardens  in  the  Regent's  Park.  Among  the  earliest 
tenants  of  the  Menagerie  were  a  pair  of  emues  from 
New  Holland ;  two  Arctic  bears  and  a  Russian  bear; 
a  herd  of  kangaroos ;  Cuban  mastiffs  and  Thibet 
watch-dogs ;  two  llamas  from  Peru ;  a  splendid  col- 
lection of  eagles,  falcons,  and  owls ;  a  pair  of  beavers ; 
cranes,  spoonbills,  and  storks ;  zebras  and  Indian 
cows ;  Esquimaux  dogs ;  armadilloes ;  and  a  collec- 
tion of  monkeys.  To  the  menagerie  have  since  been 
added  an  immense  number  of  species  of  Mammalia 
and  Birds ;  in  1849,  a  collection  of  Reptiles  ;  and  in 
1853,  a  collection  of  Fish,  Mollmca,  Zoophytes,  and 
other  Aquatic  Animals.  In  1830,  the  menagerie 
collected  by  George  IY.  at  Sandpit-gate,  Windsor, 
was  removed  to  the  Society's  Gardens ;  and  1834  the 
last  of  the  Tower  Menagerie  was  received  here.  It 
is  now  the  finest  public  Yivarium  in  Europe. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  more  remarkable 


CURIOSITIES    OF    ZOOLOGY.  17 

animals  which  the  Society  have  possessed,   or  are 
now  in  the  menagerie  : — 

Antelopes,  the  great  family  of,  finely  represented.  The 
beautiful  Elands  were  bequeathed  by  the  late  Earl  of  Derby, 
and  have  bred  freely  since  their  arrival  in  1851.  The 
Leucoryx  is  the  first  of  her  race  born  out  of  Africa.  Ant- 
eater,  Giant,  brought  to  England  from  Brazil  in  1853,  was 
exhibited  in  Broad-street,  St.  Giles's,  until  purchased  by 
the  Zoological  Society  for  2001.  Apteryx,  or  Kiwi  bird,  from 
New  Zealand  ;  the  first  living  specimen  brought  to  England 
of  this  rare  bird.  The  Fish-house,  built  of  iron  and  glass, 
in  1853,  consisting  of  a  series  of  glass  tanks,  in  which  fish 
spawn,  zoophytes  produce  young,  and  algae  luxuriate  ;  crus- 
tacea  and  mollusca  live  successfully,  and  ascidian  polypes  are 
illustrated,  together  with  sea  anemones,  jelly-fishes,  and 
star-fishes,  rare  shell- fishes,  &c.  :  a  new  world  of  animal  life 
is  here  seen  as  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  with  masses  of 
rock,  sand,  gravel,  corallines,  sea-weed,  and  sea-water  ;  the 
animals  are  in  a  state  of  natural  restlessness,  now  quiescent, 
now  eating  and  being  eaten.  Aurochs,  or  European  Bisons  : 
a  pair  presented  by  the  Emperor  of  Eussia,  in  1847,  from  the 
forest  of  Bialowitzca :  the  male  died  in  1848,  the  female  in 
1849,  from  pleuro-pneumonia.  Bears:  the  collection  is  one 
of  the  largest  ever  made.  Elephants :  including  an  Indian 
elephant  calf  and  its  mother.  In  1847  died  here  the  great 
Indian  elephant  Jack,  having  been  in  the  gardens  sixteen 
years.  Adjoining  the  stable  is  a  tank  of  water,  of  a  depth 
nearly  equal  to  the  height  of  a  full-grown  elephant.  In  1851 
the  Society  possessed  a  herd  of  four  elephants,  besides  a 
hippopotamus,  a  rhinoceros,  and  both  species  of  tapir  ;  being 
the  largest  collection  of  pachydermata  ever  exhibited  in 
Europe.  Giraffes:  four  received  in  1836  cost  the  Society 
upwards  of  2,300?.,  including  1,0001.  for  steamboat  passage  : 
the  female  produced  six  male  fawns  here  between  1840  and 
1851.  Hippopotamus,  a  young  male  (the  first  living  specimen 
seen  in  England),  received  from  Egypt  in  May,  1850,  when 

B 


18  INTRODUCTORY. 

ten  months  old,  seven  feet  long,  and  six  and  a-half  feet  in 
girth  ;  also  a  female  hippopotamus,  received  1854.  Hum- 
ming-birds: Mr.  Gould's  matchless  collection  of  2,000  ex- 
amples was  exhibited  here  in  1851  and  1852.  Iguanas,  two 
from  Cuba  and  Carthagena,  closely  resembling,  in  every- 
thing but  size,  the  fossil  Iguanodon.  The  Lions  number 
generally  from  eight  to  ten,  including  a  pair  of  cubs  born  in 
the  gardens  in  1853.  Orang-utan  and  Chimpanzee:  the  pur- 
chase-money of  the  latter  sometimes  exceeds  300£.  The  orang 
"  Darby,"  brought  from  Borneo  in  1851,  is  the  finest  yet 
seen  in  Europe,  very  intelligent,  and  docile  as  a  child. 
Parrot-houses,  the,  sometimes  contain  from  sixty  to  seventy 
species.  Rapacious  Birds:  so  extensive  a  series  of  eagles 
and  vultures  has  never  yet  been  seen  at  one  view.  The 
Reptile-house  was  fitted  up  in  1849  ;  the  creatures  are  placed 
in  large  plate-glass  cases :  here  are  pythons  and  a  rattle- 
snake, with  a  young  one  born  here ;  here  is  also  a  case  of 
the  tree-frogs  of  Europe :  a  yellow  snake  from  Jamaica  has 
produced  eight  young  in  the  gardens.  Cobra  de  Capello,  from 
India :  in  1852,  a  keeper  in  the  gardens  was  killed  by  the 
bite  of  this  serpent.  A  large  Boa  in  1850  swallowed  a 
blanket,  and  disgorged  it  in  thirty-three  days.  A  one-horned 
Rhinoceros,  of  continental  India,  was  obtained  in  1834,  when 
it  was  about  four  years  old,  and  weighed  26  cwt.  ;  it  died  in 
1850 :  it  was  replaced  by  a  female,  about  five  years  old. 
Satin  Bower-Birds,  from  Sydney :  a  pair  have  built  here  a 
bower,  or  breeding-place.  Tapir  of  the  Old  World,  from 
Mount  Ophir ;  the  nearest  existing  form  the  Paleotherium. 
Tigers:  a  pair  of  magnificent  specimens,  presented  by  the 
Guicoway  of  Baroda  in  1851 ;  a  pair  of  clouded  tigers,  1854. 
The  Wapiti  Deer  breeds  every  year  in  the  Menagerie. 

The  animals  in  the  Gardens,  although  reduced  in 
number,  are  more  valuable  and  interesting  than 
when  their  number  was  higher.  The  mission  of  the 
Society's  head-keeper,  to  collect  rare  animals  for  the 
Menagerie,  has  been  very  profitable.  The  addi- 


CURIOSITIES    OF    ZOOLOGY.  19 

tional  houses  from  time  to  time,  are  very  expen- 
sive: the  new  monkey  house,  fittings,  and  work 
cost  4,842J. ;  and  in  1864,  the  sum  of  6,604J.  was 
laid  out  in  permanent  additions  to  the  establish- 
ment. 

Yery  rare,  and  consequently  expensive,  animals 
are  generally  purchased.  Thus,  the  first  Rhinoceros 
cost  1,OOOJ. ;  the  four  Giraffes,  TOO/.,  and  their  car- 
riage an  additional  70 O/.  The  Elephant  and  calf 
were  bought  in  1851  for  500/. ;  and  the  Hippopota- 
mus, although  a  gift,  was  not  brought  home  and 
housed  at  less  than  1,000/. — a  sum  which  he  more 
than  realised  in  the  famous  Exhibition  season,  when 
the  receipts  were  10,000 1.  above  the  previous  year. 
The  Lion  Albert  was  purchased  for  140/. ;  a  tiger, 
in  1852,  for  20 01.  The  value  of  some  of  the  smaller 
birds  will  appear,  however,  more  startling  :  thus, 
the  pair  of  black-necked  Swans  were  purchased  for 
80 /. ;  a  pair  of  crowned  Pigeons  and  two  Maleos, 
60/. ;  a  pair  of  Yictoria  Pigeons,  35/. ;  four  Man- 
darin Ducks,  70 £.  Most  of  these  rare  birds  (now  in 
the  great  aviary)  came  from  the  Knowsley  collec- 
tion, at  the  sale  of  which,  in  1851,  purchases  were 
made  to  the  extent  of  985 /.  It  would  be  impossible 
from  these  prices,  however,  to  judge  of  the  present 
value  of  the  animals.  Take  the  Rhinoceros,  for 
example  :  the  first  specimen  cost  1,000/. ;  the  second, 
quite  as  fine  a  brute,  only  350J.  Lions  range  again 
from  40J.  to  180J.,  and  Tigers  from  407.  to  200J. 
The  ignorance  displayed  by  some  persons  as  to  the 
value  of  well-known  objects  is  something  marvellous. 
B  2 


20  INTRODUCTORY. 

— A  sea-captain  demanded  600/.  for  a  pair  of  Pythons, 
and  at  last  took  40 /. !  An  American  offered  the 
Society  a  Grisly  Bear  for  2,000 /.,  to  be  delivered  in 
the  United  States ;  and,  more  laughable  still,  a 
moribund  Walrus,  which  had  been  fed  for  nine 
weeks  on  salt  pork  and  meal,  was  offered  for  the 
trifling  sum  of  700 1.  ! 

There  is  a  strange  notion  that  the  Zoological 
Society  has  proposed  a  large  reward  for  a  "  Tortoise- 
shell  Tom-cat,"  and  one  was  accordingly  offered 
to  the  Society  for  250J. !  But  male  Tortoiseshell  Cats 
may  be  had  in  many  quarters.* 

The  Surrey  Zoological  Gardens  were  established 
in  1831.  Thither  Cross  removed  his  menagerie  from 
the  King's  Mews,  where  it  had  been  transferred  from 

*  Tn  April,  1842,  Mr.  Batty's  collection  of  animals  was 
sold  by  auction,  when  the  undermentioned  animals  brought — 
Large  red-faced  Monkey  (clever),  11.  10s.  ;  fine  Coatimondi, 
\l.  4s. ;  Mandril  (the  only  one  in  England),  ll.  17s.  ;  pair  of 
Java  Hares,  IL  9s.  ;  a  Puma,  14£.  ;  handsome  Senegal  Lioness, 
91.  ;  a  Hyaena,  71.  ;  splendid  Barbary  Lioness,  24£. ;  hand- 
some Bengal  Tigress,  901. ;  brown  Bear,  61.  ;  the  largest 
Polar  Bear  in  Europe,  371. ;  pair  of  Esquimaux  Sledge-Dogs, 
31.  7s.;  pair  of  Golden  Pheasants,  31.  10s.  ;  a  blue-and-buff 
Macaw  (clever  talker),  2?.  10s. ;  a  horned  Owl,  from  North 
America,  31.  10s.  ;  a  magnificent  Barbary  Lion,  trained  for 
performance,  105  guineas  ;  a  Lioness,  similarly  trained,  90 
guineas  ;  handsome  Senegal  performing  Leopard,  34  guineas  ; 
two  others,  50  guineas  ;  Ursine  Sloth,  12  guineas  ;  Indian 
Buffalo,  10  guineas  ;  sagacious  male  Elephant,  trained  for 
theatrical  performances,  350  guineas.  The  above  is  stated  to 
have  been  the  first  sale  of  the  kind  by  public  auction  in  this 
country. 


CURIOSITIES    OF    ZOOLOGY.  21 

Exeter  Change.  At  Walworth  a  glazed  circular  build- 
ing, 100  feet  in  diameter,  was  built  for  the  cages  of  the 
carnivorous  animals  (Lions,  Tigers,  Leopards,  &c.) ; 
and  other  houses  for  Mammalia,  Birds,  &c.  Here, 
in  1834,  was  first  exhibited  a  young  Indian  one- 
horned  Ehinoceros,  for  which  Cross  paid  800 /.  It 
was  the  only  specimen  brought  to  England  for 
twenty  years.  In  1836  were  added  three  Giraffes, 
one  fifteen  feet  high.  The  menagerie  was  dispersed 
in  1856.  The  menagerie  at  Exeter  Change  was  a 
poor  collection,  though  the  admission-charge  was,  at 
one  period,  half-a-crown ! 

The  collections  of  animals  exhibited  at  fairs  have 
added  little  to  Zoological  information  ;  but  we  may 
mention  that  Wombwell,  one  of  the  most  noted  of 
the  showfolk,  bought  a  pair  of  the  first  Boa  Con- 
strictors imported  into  England  :  for  these  he  paid 
757.,  and  in  three  weeks  realized  considerably  more 
than  that  sum  by  their  exhibition.  At  the  time  of 
his  death,  in  1850,  Wombwell  was  possessed  of  three 
huge  menageries,  the  cost  of  maintaining  which 
averaged  at  least  357.  per  day ;  and  he  used  to  esti- 
mate that,  from  mortality  and  disease,  he  had  lost, 
from  first  to  last,  from  12,0007.  to  15,0007. 

Our  object  in  the  following  succession  of  sketches 
of  the  habits  and  eccentricities  of  the  more  striking 
animals,  and  their  principal  claims  upon  our  atten- 
tion, is  to  present,  in  narrative,  their  leading 
characteristics,  and  thus  to  secure  a  willing  audience 
from  old  and  young. 


THE  RHINOCEROS  IN  ENGLAND. 


|HE  intellectual  helps  to  the  study  of  zoology 
are  nowhere  more  strikingly  evident  than  in 
the  finest  collection  of  pachyderms  (thick- 
skinned  animals)  in  the  world,  now  possessed  by  our 
Zoological  Society.  Here  we  have  a  pair  of  Indian 
Elephants,  a  pair  of  African  Elephants,  a  pair  of 
Hippopotami,  a  pair  of  Indian  Rhinoceroses,  and  an 
African  or  two-horned  Rhinoceros. 

The  specimens  of  the  Rhinoceros  which  have  been 
exhibited  in  Europe  since  the  revival  of  literature 
have  been  few  and  far  between.  The  first  was  of  the 
one-horned  species,  sent  from  India  to  Emmanuel, 
King  of  Portugal,  in  the  year  1513.  The  Sovereign 
made  a  present  of  it  to  the  Pope;  but  the  animal 
being  seized  during  its  passage  with  a  fit  of  fury, 
occasioned  the  loss  of  the  vessel  in  which  it  was 
transported.  A  second  Rhinoceros  was  brought  to 
England  in  1685 ;  a  third  was  exhibited  over  almost 
the  whole  of  Europe  in  1739  ;  and  a  fourth,  a  female, 
in  1741.  A  fifth  specimen  arrived  at  Versailles  in 


THE    RHINOCEROS    IN    ENGLAND.  23 

1771,  and  it  died  in  1793,  at  the  age  of  about  twenty- 
six  years.  The  sixth  was  a  very  young  Rhinoceros, 
which  died  in  this  country  in  the  year  1800.  The 
seventh,  a  young  specimen,  was  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Cross,  *at  Exeter  Change,  about  1814 ;  and  an 
eighth  specimen  was  living  about  the  same  time  in 
the  Garden  of  Plants  at  Paris.  In  1834  Mr.  Cross 
received  at  the  Surrey  Gardens,  from  the  Birman 
empire,  a  Rhinoceros,  a  year  and  a-half  old,  as  already 
stated  at  page  21.  In  1851  the  Zoological  Society 
purchased  a  full-grown  female  Rhinoceros ;  and  in 
1864  they  received  a  male  Rhinoceros  from  Calcutta. 
All  these  specimens  were  from  India,  and  one-horned ; 
so  that  the  tivo-horned  Rhinoceros  had  not  been 
brought  to  England  until  the  arrival  of  an  African 
Rhinoceros,  two-horned,  in  September,  1868.* 

The  ancient  history  of  the  Rhinoceros  is  interest- 
ing, but  intricate.  It  seems  to  be  mentioned  in 
several  passages  of  the  Scriptures,  in  most  of  which 
the  animal  or  animals  intended  to  be  designated  was 
or  were  the  Rhinoceros  unicornis,  or  Great  Asiatic 
one-horned  Rhinoceros.  M.  Lesson  expresses  a 
decided  opinion  to  this  effect :  indeed,  the  descrip- 
tion in  Job  (chap,  xxxix.)  would  almost  forbid  the 

*  The  conveyance  of  a  Rhinoceros  over  sea  is  a  labour  of 
some  risk.  In  1814  a  full-grown  specimen  on  his  voyage 
from  Calcutta  to  this  country  became  so  furious  that  he  was 
fastened  down  to  the  ship's  deck,  with  part  of  a  chain-cable 
round  his  neck  ;  and  even  then  he  succeeded  in  destroying  a 
portion  of  the  vessel,  till,  a  heavy  storm  coming  on,  the 
Rhinoceros  was  thrown  overboard  to  prevent  the  serious 
consequence  of  his  getting  loose  in  the  ship. 


24        THE  RHINOCEROS  IN  ENGLAND. 

conclusion  that  any  animal  was  in  the  writer's  mind 
except  one  of  surpassing  bulk  and  indomitable 
strength.  The  impotence  of  man  is  finely  contrasted 
with  the  might  of  the  Rhinoceros  in  this  description, 
which  would  be  overcharged  if  it  applied  to  the  less 
powerful  animals  alluded  to  in  the  previous  passages. 

It  has  also  been  doubted  whether  accounts  of  the 
Indian  Wild  Ass,  given  by  Ctesias,  were  not  highly 
coloured  and  exaggerated  descriptions  of  this  genus ; 
and  whether  the  Indian  Ass  of  Aristotle  was  not  a 
Rhinoceros. 

Agatharchides  describes  the  one-horned  Rhinoceros 
by  name,  and  speaks  of  its  ripping  up  the  belly  of 
the  Elephant.  This  is,  probably,  the  earliest 
occurrence  of  the  name  Rhinoceros.  The  Rhi- 
noceros which  figured  in  the  celebrated  pomps  of 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus  was  an  Ethiopian,  and  seems 
to  have  marched  last  in  the  procession  of  wild 
animals,  probably  on  account  of  its  superior  rarity, 
and  immediately  after  the  Cameleopard. 

Dion  Cassius  speaks  of  the  Rhinoceros  killed  in 
the  circus  with  a  Hippopotamus  in  the  show  given  by 
Augustus  to  celebrate  his  victory  over  Cleopatra; 
he  says  that  the  Hippopotamus  and  this  animal  were 
then  first  seen  and  killed  at  Rome.  The  Rhinoceros 
then  slain  is  thought  to  have  been  African,  and  two- 
horned. 

The  Rhinoceros  clearly  described  by  Strabo,  as 
seen  by  him,  was  one-horned.  That  noticed  by  Pau- 
sanias  as  "the  Bull  of  Ethiopia,"  was  two-horned, 
and  he  describes  the  relative  position  of  the  horns. 


THE    RHINOCEROS    IN    ENGLAND.  25 

Wood,  in  his  "  Zoography,"  gives  an  engraving  of 
the  coin  of  Domitian  (small  Roman  brass),  on  the 
reverse  of  which  is  the  distinct  form  of  a  two-horned 
Rhinoceros  :  its  exhibition  to  the  Roman  people,  pro- 
bably of  the  very  animal  represented  on  the  coin,  is 
particularly  described  in  one  of  the  epigrams  attri- 
buted to  Martial,  who  lived  in  the  reigns  of  Titus 
and  Domitian.  By  the  description  of  the  epigram 
it  appears  that  a  combat  between  a  Rhinoceros  and  a 
Bear  was  intended,  but  that  it  was  very  difficult  to 
irritate  the  more  unwieldy  animal  so  as  to  make  him 
display  his  usual  ferocity ;  at  length,  however,  he 
tossed  the  bear  from  his  double  horn,  with  as  much 
facility  as  a  bull  tosses  to  the  sky  the  bundles  placed 
for  the  purpose  of  enraging  him.  Thus  far  the  coin 
and  the  epigram  perfectly  agree  as  to  the  existence 
of  the  double  horn ;  but,  unfortunately,  commentators 
and  antiquaries  were  not  to  be  convinced  that  a  Rhi- 
noceros could  have  more  than  one  horn,  and  have  at 
once  displayed  their  sagacity  and  incredulity  in  their 
explanations  on  the  subject. 

Two,  at  least,  of  the  two-horned  Rhinoceroses  were 
shown  at  Rome  in  the  reign  of  Domitian.  The  Em- 
perors Antoninus,  Heliogabalus,  and  Gordian  also 
exhibited  Rhinoceroses.  Cosmas  speaks  expressly  of 
the  Ethiopian  Rhinoceros  as  having  two  horns,  and 
of  its  power  of  moving  them. 

The  tractability  of  the  Asiatic  Rhinoceros  has  been 
confirmed  by  observers  in  the  native  country  of  the 
animal.  Bishop  Heber  saw  at  Lucknow  five  or  six 
very  large  Rhinoceroses,  of  which  he  found  that  prints 


26  THE    RHINOCEROS    IN    ENGLAND. 

and  drawings  had  given  him  a  very  imperfect  con- 
ception. They  were  more  bulky  animals,  and  of  a 
darker  colour  than  the  Bishop  supposed  ;  though  the 
latter  difference  might  be  occasioned  by  oiling  the 
skin.  The  folds  of  their  skin  also  surpassed  all 
which  the  Bishop  had  expected.  Those  at  Lucknow 
were  quiet  and  gentle  animals,  except  that  one  of 
them  had  a  feud  with  horses.  They  had  sometimes 
howdahs,  or  chaise-like  seats,  on  their  backs,  and 
were  once  fastened  in  a  carriage,  but  only  as  an  ex- 
periment, which  was  not  followed  up.  The  Bishop, 
however,  subsequently  saw  a  Rhinoceros  (the  present 
of  Lord  Amherst  to  the  Guicwar),  which  was  so 
tamed  as  to  be  ridden  by  a  Mohout  quite  as  patiently 
as  an  elephant. 

JSTo  two-horned  Rhinoceros  seems  to  have  been 
brought  alive  to  Europe  in  modern  times.  Indeed, 
up  to  a  comparatively  late  period,  their  form  was 
known  only  by  the  horns  which  were  preserved  in 
museums ;  nor  did  voyagers  give  any  sufficient  de- 
tails to  impart  any  clear  idea  of  the  form  of  the 
animal.  The  rude  figure  given  by  Aldrovandus,  in 
1639,  leaves  no  doubt  that,  wretched  as  it  is,  it  must 
have  been  taken  from  a  two-horned  Rhinoceros. 

Dr.  Parsons  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  one- 
horned  Rhinoceros  always  belonged  to  Asia,  and  the 
two-horned  Rhinoceros  to  Africa ;  but  there  are  two- 
horned  Rhinoceroses  in  Asia,  as  well  as  in  Africa. 
Flacourt  saw  one  in  the  Bay  of  Soldaque,  near  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  at  a  distance.  Kolbe  and  others 
always  considered  the  Rhinoceros  of  the  Cape  as  two- 


THE    RHINOCEROS    IN    ENGLAND.  27 

horned ;  but  Colonel  Gordon  seems  to  be  the  first 
who  entirely  detailed  the  species  with  any  exact- 
ness. Sparrman  described  the  Cape  Rhinoceros, 
though  his  figure  of  the  animal  is  stiff  and  ill-drawn. 
At  this  period  it  was  well  known  that  the  Cape 
species  was  not  only  distinguished  by  having  two 
horns  from  the  Indian  Rhinoceros  then  known,  but 
also  by  an  absence  of  the  folds  of  the  skin  so  remark- 
able in  the  latter. 

We  should  here  notice  the  carelessness,  to  call  it 
by  the  mildest  name,  of  Bruce,  who  gave  to  the 
world  a  representation  of  a  two-horned  Rhinoceros 
from  Abyssinia,  with  a  strongly  folded  skin.  The 
truth  appears  to  be  that  the  body  of  the  animal 
figured  by  Bruce  was  copied  from  that  of  the  one- 
horned  Rhinoceros  given  by  Buffon,  to  which  Bruce 
added  a  second  horn.  Salt  proved  that  the  Abys- 
sinian Rhinoceros  is  two-horned,  and  that  it  resem- 
bles that  of  the  Cape. 

Sparmann  exposes  the  errors  and  poetic  fancies  of 
Buffon  respecting  the  impenetrable  nature  of  the 
skin.  He  ordered  one  of  his  Hottentots  to  make  a 
trial  of  this  with  his  hassagai  on  a  Rhinoceros  which 
had  been  shot.  Though  this  weapon  was  far  from 
being  in  good  order,  and  had  no  other  sharpness 
than  that  which  it  had  received  from  the  forge,  the 
Hottentot,  at  the  distance  of  five  or  six  paces,  not 
only  pierced  with  it  the  thick  hide  of  the  animal, 
but  buried  it  half  a  foot  deep  in  its  body. 

Mr.  Tegetmeier  has  sufficiently  described  in  the 
"  Field "  journal  the  African  Rhinoceros  just  re- 


28         THE  RHINOCEROS  IN  ENGLAND. 

ceived  at  the  Zoological  Society's  menagerie  in  the 
Regent 's-park,  and  which  has  been  sketched  by  Mr. 
T.  W.  Wood  expressly  for  the  present  volume. 

It  was  captured  about  a  year  ago  in  Upper  Nubia 
by  the  native  hunters  in  the  employment  of  Mr. 
Casanova,  at  Kassala ;  and  was  sent,  by  way  of 
Alexandria  and  Trieste,  to  Mr.  Karl  Hagenbeck,  of 
Hamburg,  a  dealer  in  wild  beasts,  who  sold  it  to 
the  Zoological  Society. 

"  This  animal  is  very  distinct  from  its  Asiatic 
congeners ;  it  differs  strikingly  in  the  number  of 
horns,  as  well  as  in  the  character  of  its  skin,  which 
is  destitute  of  those  large  folds,  which  cause  the 
Indian  species  to  remind  the  observer  of  a  gigantic 
'  hog  in  armour.' 

"  The  arrival  of  this  animal  will  tend  to  clear  up 
the  confusion  that  prevails  respecting  the  number 
of  distinct  species  of  African  Rhinoceros.  Some 
writers — as  Sir  "W.  C.  Harris — admit  the  existence 
of  two  species  only,  the  dark  and  the  light,  or,  as 
they  are  termed,  the  '  white '  and  the  i  black.' 
Others,  as  Dr.  A.  Smith,  describe  three ;  some,  as 
the  late .  Mr.  Anderssen,  write  of  four ;  and  Mr. 
Chapman  even  speaks  of  a  fifth  species  or  hybrid. 

"  Three  of  these  species  are  very  distinctly  de- 
fined— the  ordinary  dark  animal,  the  Rhinoceros 
Ucornis,  in  which  the  posterior  horn  is  much 
shorter  than  the  anterior;  the  Rhinoceros  keitloa, 
in  which  the  two  horns  are  of  equal  length;  and 
the  '  white '  species,  Rhinoceros  simus.  The  last, 
among  other  characters,  is,  according  to  Dr.  Smith, 


THE    RHINOCEROS    IN    ENGLAND.  29 

distinguished  by  the  square  character  of  the  upper 
lip,  which  is  not  prehensile. 

"  The  young  animal  now  (October,  1868)  in  the 
Zoological  Society's  garden,  appears  to  belong  to 
the  first-named  species,  the  largest  specimens  of 
which  when  full  grown  reach  a  height  of  6ft.,  and 
a  length  of  13ft.,  the  tail  not  included.  Its  present 
height  is  3Jft.,  and  length  about  6ft.  In  general 
appearance  the  mature  animal  resembles  a  gigantic 
pig,  the  limbs  being  brought  under  the  body.  The 
feet  are  most  singular  in  form,  being  very  distinctly 
three-toed,  and  the  remarkable  trefoil-like  spoors 
that  they  make  in  the  soil  render  the  animal  easy  to 
track.  The  horns  vary  greatly  in  length  in  different 
animals ;  the  first  not  unfrequently  reaches  a  length 
of  2ft.,  the  second  being  considerably  shorter. 
These  appendages  differ  very  much  from  ordinary 
horns ;  they  are,  in  fact,  more  of  the  nature  of 
agglutinated  hair,  being  attached  to  the  skin  only, 
and  consequently  they  separate  from  the  skull  when 
the  latter  is  preserved. 

"  The  head  is  not  remarkable  for  comeliness, 
especially  in  the  mature  animal,  in  which  the  skin 
of  the  face  is  deeply  wrinkled,  and  the  small  eyes 
are  surrounded  with  many  folds.  The  upper  lip  is 
elongated,  and  is  used  in  gathering  the  food.  The 
adult  animals  are  described  by  Sir  W.  C.  Harris,  in 
his  'Illustrations  of  the  Game  Animals  of  South 
Africa/  as  l  swinish,  cross-grained,  ill-tempered, 
wallowing  brutes.' ' 

Mr.  Burchell,  during  his  travels  in  Africa,  shot 


30         THE  RHINOCEROS  IN  ENGLAND. 

nine  Rhinoceroses,  besides  a  smaller  one.  The  latter 
he  presented  to  the  British  Museum.  The  animal 
is,1  however,  becoming  every  day  more  and  more 
scarce  in  Southern  Africa  ;  indeed,  it  is  rarely  to  be 
met  with  in  some  parts.  It  appears  that,  in  one 
day,  two  Rhinoceroses  were  shot  by  Speelman,  the 
faithful  Hottentot  who  attended  Mr.  Burchell.  He 
fired  off  his  gun  but  twice,  and  each  time  he  killed 
a  Rhinoceros !  The  animal's  sense  of  hearing  is 
very  quick  :  should  he  be  disturbed,  he  sometimes 
becomes  furious,  and  pursues  his  enemy ;  and  then, 
if  once  he  gets  sight  of  the  hunter,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  for  him  to  escape,  unless  he  possesses  extra- 
ordinary coolness  and  presence  of  mind.  Yet,  if  he 
will  quietly  wait  till  the  enraged  animal  makes  a  run 
at  him,  and  will  then  spring  suddenly  on  one  side, 
to  let  it  pass,  he  may  gain  time  enough  for  reloading 
his  gun  before  the  Rhinoceros  gets  sight  of  him 
again,  which,  fortunately,  owing  to  its  imperfection 
of  sight,  it  does  slowly  and  with  difficulty. 

Speelman,  in  shooting  a  large  male  Rhinoceros, 
used  bullets  cast  with  an  admixture  of  tin,  to  render 
them  harder.  They  were  flattened  and  beat  out  of 
shape  by  striking  against  the  bones,  but  those  which 
were  found  lodged  in  the  fleshy  parts  had  preserved 
their  proper  form,  a  fact  which  shows  how  little  the 
hardness  of  the  creature's  hide  corresponds  with  the 
vulgar  opinion  of  its  being  impenetrable  to  a  musket- 
ball.  Mr.  Burchell  found  this  Rhinoceros  nearly 
cut  up.  On  each  side  of  the  carcase  the  Hottentots 
had  made  a  fire  to  warm  themselves ;  and  round  a 


THE  RHINOCEROS  IN  ENGLAND.         31 

third  fire  were  assembled  at  least  twenty-four  Bush- 
men, most  of  whom  were  employed  the  whole  night 
long  in  broiling,  eating,  and  talking.  Their  appetite 
seemed  insatiable,  for  no  sooner  had  they  broiled 
and  eaten  one  slice  of  meat  than  they  turned  to  the 
carcase  and  cut  another.  The  meat  was  excellent, 
and  had  much  the  taste  of  beef.  "The  tongue," 
says  Mr.  Burchell,  "  is  a  dainty  treat,  even  for  an 
epicure."  The  hide  is  cut  into  strips,  three  feet  or 
more  in  length,  rounded  to  the  thickness  of  a  man's 
finger,  and  tapering  to  the  top.  This  is  called  a 
shambok,  and  is  universally  used  in  the  colony  of  the 
Cape  for  a  horsewhip,  and  is  much  more  durable 
than  the  whips  of  European  manufacture.  The 
natural  food  of  the  Rhinoceros,  till  the  animal  fled 
before  the  colonists,  was  a  pale,  bushy  shrub,  called 
the  Rhinoceros-bush,  which  burns  while  green  as 
freely  as  the  driest  fuel,  so  as  readily  to  make  a 
roadside  fire. 

The  horn  of  the  Rhinoceros,  single  or  double,  has 
its  special  history  by  the  way  of  popular  tradition. 
From  the  earliest  times  this  horn  has  been  supposed 
to  possess  preservative  virtues  and  mysterious  pro- 
perties— to  be  capable  of 'curing  diseases  and  dis- 
covering the  presence  of  poison ;  and  in  all  countries 
where  the  Rhinoceros  exists,  but  especially  in  the 
East,  such  is  still  the  opinion  respecting  it.  In  the 
details  of  the  first  voyage  of  the  English  to  India, 
in  1591,  we  find  Rhinoceros'  horns  monopolised  by 
the  native  sovereigns  on  account  of  their  reputed 
virtues  in  detecting  the  presence  of  poison. 


32  THE    RHINOCEROS    IN    ENGLAND. 

Thunberg  observes,  in  his  "  Journey  into  Caff- 
raria,"  that  "the  horns  of  the  Ehinoceros  were 
kept  by  some  people,  both  in  town  and  country, 
not  only  as  rarities,  but  also  as  useful  in  diseases, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  detecting  poisons.  As  to 
the  former  of  these  intentions,  the  fine  shavings 
were  supposed  to  cure  convulsions  and  spasms  in 
children.  With  respect  to  the  latter,  it  was  gene- 
rally believed  that  goblets  made  of  these  horns 
would  discover  a  poisonous  draught  that  was  poured 
into  them,  by  making  the  liquor  ferment  till  it  ran 
quite  out  of  the  goblet.  Of  these  horns  goblets  are 
made,  which  are  set  in  gold  and  silver  and  presented 
to  kings,  persons  of  distinction,  and  particular  friends, 
or  else  sold  at  a  high  price,  sometimes  at  the  rate  of 
fifty  rix-dollars  each."  Thunberg  adds  : — "  When 
I  tried  these  horns,  both  wrought  and  unwrought, 
both  old  and  young  horns,  with  several  sorts  of 
poison,  weak  as  well  as  strong,  I  observed  not  the 
least  motion  or  effervescence ;  but  when  a  solution 
of  corrosive  sublimate  or  other  similar  substance  was 
poured  into  one  of  these  horns,  there  arose  only  a 
few  bubbles,  produced  by  the  air  which  had  been 
enclosed  in  the  pores  of  the  horn  and  which  were 
now  disengaged." 

Rankin  (in  his  "Wars  and  Sports")  states  this 
mode  of  using  it :  a  small  quantity  of  water  is  put 
into  the  concave  part  of  the  root,  then  hold  it  with 
the  point  downwards  and  stir  the  water  with  the 
point  of  an  iron  nail  till  it  is  discoloured,  when  the 
patient  is  to  drink  it. 


STOEIES  OF  MERMAIDS. 


1SS  than  half  a  century  ago,  a  pretended 
Mermaid  was  one  of  the  sights  of  a  London 
season ;  to  see  which  credulous  persons  rushed 
to  pay  half-crowns  and  shillings  with  a  readiness 
which  seemed  to  rebuke  the  record — that  the  exist- 
ence of  a  Mermaid  is  an  exploded  fallacy  of  two 
centuries  since. 

Mermaids  have  had  a  legendary  existence  from 
very  early  ages,  for  the  Sirens  of  the  ancients 
evidently  belonged  to  the  same  remarkable  family. 
Shakspeare  uses  the  term  Mermaid  as  synonymous 
with  Siren  : — 

"  O  train  me  not,  sweet  Mermaid,  with  thy  note, 
To  drown  me  in  thy  sister's  flood  of  tears  ; 
Sing,  Syren,  for  thyself." — Comedy  of  Errors,  iii.  2. 

Elsewhere,  Shakspeare' s  use  of  the  term  is  more 
applicable  to  the  Siren  than  to  the  common  idea  of  a 
Mermaid ;  as  in  the  "  Midsummer  Night's  Dream," 
where  the  "  Mermaid  on  a  dolphin's  back "  could 
not  easily  have  been  so  placed.  A  Merman,  the 

c 


34  STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS. 

male  of  this  imaginary  species,  is  mentioned  by 
Taylor,  the  water-poet : — 

"  A  thing  turmoyling  in  the  sea  we  spide, 
Like  to  a  Meareman." 

An  old  writer  has  this  ingenious  illustration : — 
"  Mermaids,  in  Homer,  were  witches,  and  their 
songs  enchantments;"  which  reminds  us  of  the 
invitation  in  Haydn's  Mermaid's  Song  : — 

tf  Come  with  me,  and  we  will  go 
Where  the  rocks  of  coral  grow." 

The  orthodox  Mermaid  is  half  woman,  half  fish ; 
and  the  fishy  half  is  sometimes  depicted  as  doubly 
tailed,  such  as  we  see  in  the  heraldry  of  France  and 
Germany ;  and  in  the  Basle  edition  of  Ptolemy's 
"  Geography,"  dated  1540,  a  double-tailed  Mermaid 
figures  in  one  of  the  plates.  In  the  arms  of  the 
Fishmongers'  Company  of  London,  the  supporters 
are  "  a  Merman  and  maid,  first,  armed,  the  latter 
with  a  mirror  in  the  left  hand,  proper."  From  this 
heraldic  employment,  the  Mermaid  became  a  popular 
tavern  sign ;  and  there  was  an  old  dance  called  the 
Mermaid. 

Sir  Thomas  Browne  refers  to  the  picture  of  Mer- 
maids, though  he  does  not  admit  their  existence. 
They  "  are  conceived  to  answer  the  shape  of  the 
ancient  Sirens  that  attempted  upon  Ulysses  ;  which, 
notwithstanding,  were  of  another  description,  con- 
taining no  fishy  composure,  but  made  up  of  man 
and  bird."  Sir  Thomas  is  inclined  to  refer  the 
Mermaid  to  Dagon,  the  tutelary  deity  of  the  Philis- 


STORIES   OF    MERMAIDS.  35 

tines,  which,  according  to  the  common  opinion,  had 
a  human  female  bust  and  a  fish-like  termination; 
though  the  details  of  this  fish  idolatry  are  entirely 
conjectural. 

Leyden,  the  Scottish  poet,  has  left  a  charming 
ballad,  entitled  "  The  Mermaid,"  the  scene  of  which 
is  laid  at  Corrievreckin :  the  opening  of  this  poem 
Sir  Walter  Scott  praised  as  exhibiting  a  power  of 
numbers  which,  for  mere  melody  of  sound,  has 
seldom  been  excelled  in  English  poetry  : — 

"  On  Jura's  heath  how  sweetly  swell 

The  murmurs  of  the  mountain  bee  ! 
How  softly  mourns  the  writhed  shell 
Of  Jura's  shore  its  parent  sea ! 

"  But  softer  floating,  o'er  the  deep, 

The  Mermaid's  sweet  sea-soothing  lay, 
That  charmed  the  dancing  waves  to  sleep 
Before  the  bark  of  Colonsay." 

The  ballad  thus  describes  the  wooing  of  the  gallant 
chieftain  : — 

"  Proud  swells  her  heart !  she  deems  at  last 

To  lure  him  with  her  silver  tongue, 
And,  as  the  shelving  rocks  she  passed, 
She  raised  her  voice,  and  sweetly  sung. 

"  In  softer,  sweeter  strains  she  sung, 

Slow  gliding  o'er  the  moonlight  bay, 
When  light  to  land  the  chieftain  sprung, 
To  hail  the  maid  of  Colonsay. 

"  0  sad  the  Mermaid's  gay  notes  fell, 

And  sadly  sink  remote  at  sea  ! 
O  sadly  mourns  the  writhed  shell 
Of  Jura's  shore,  its  parent  sea. 

c  2 


36  STORIES   OF    MERMAIDS. 

"  And  ever  as  the  year  returns, 

The  charm-bound  sailors  know  the  day ; 
For  sadly  still  the  Mermaid  mourns 
The  lovely  chief  of  Colonsay." 

Curious  evidences  of  the  existence  of  Mermaids  are 
to  be  found  in  ancient  authors.  Pliny  says  that  "  the 
ambassadors  to  Augustine  from  Gaul  declared  that 
sea-women  were  often  seen  in  their  neighbourhood." 
Solinus  and  Aulus  Grellius  also  speak  of  their  exist- 
ence. Some  stories  are,  however,  past  credence.  It 
is  related  in  the  "  Histoire  d'Angleterre  "  that,  in 
the  year  1187,  a  Merman  was  "fished  up"  off  the 
coast  of  Suffolk,  and  kept  for  six  months.  It  was 
like  a  man,  but  wanted  speech,  and  at  length  escaped 
into  the  sea !  In  1430,  in  the  great  tempests  which 
destroyed  the  dykes  in  Holland,  some  women  at 
Edam,  in  West  Friesland,  saw  a  Mermaid  who  had 
been  driven  by  the  waters  into  the  meadows,  which 
were  overflowed.  "  They  took  it,  dressed  it  in  female 
attire,  and  taught  it  to  spin ! "  It  was  taken  to 
Haarlem,  where  it  lived  some  years !  Then  we  read 
of  Ceylonese  fishermen,  in  1560,  catching,  at  one 
draught,  seven  Mermen  and  Mermaids,  which  were 
dissected !  In  1531,  a  Mermaid,  caught  in  the 
Baltic,  was  sent^  to  Sigismund,  King  of  Poland,  with 
whom  she  lived  three  days,  and  was  seen  by  the 
whole  court ! 

In  Merollo's  "  Yoyage  to  Congo,"  in  1682,  Mer- 
maids are  said  to  be  plentiful  all  along  the  river 
Zaire.  In  the  "  Aberdeen  Almanack  "  for  1688,  it 
is  predicted  that  "  near  the  place  where  the  famous 


STORIES   OF   MERMAIDS.  37 

Dee  payeth  his  tribute  to  the  German  Ocean,"  on  the 
1st,  13th,  and  29th  of  May,  and  other  specified 
times,  curious  observers  may  "  undoubtedly  see  a 
pretty  company  of  Mar  Maids,"  and  likewise  hear 
their  melodious  voices.  In  another  part  of  Scotland, 
about  the  same  time,  Brand,  in  his  "  Description  of 
Orkney  and  Shetland/'  tells  us  that  two  fishermen 
drew  up  with  a  hook  a  Mermaid,  "  having  face,  arm, 
breast,  shoulders,  &c.,  of  a  woman,  and  long  hair 
hanging  down  the  neck,  but  the  nether  part,  from 
below  the  waist,  hidden  in  the  water."  One  of  the 
fishermen  stabbed  her  with  a  knife,  and  she  was  seen 
no  more !  The  evidence  went  thus  : — Brand  was 
told  by  a  lady  and  gentleman,  who  were  told  by  a 
baillie  to  whom  the  fishing-boat  belonged,  who  was 
told  by  the  fishers  !  Yalentyn  describes  a  Mermaid 
he  saw  in  1714,  on  his  voyage  from  Batavia  to 
Europe,  "  sitting  on  the  surface  of  the  water,"  &c. 
In  1758,  a  Mermaid  is  said  to  have  been  exhibited 
at  the  fair  of  St.  Germain,  in  France.  It  was  about 
two  feet  long,  and  sported  about  in  a  vessel  of  water. 
It  was  fed  with  bread  and  fish.  It  was  a  female, 
with  negro  features. 

In  1775  appeared  a  very  circumstantial  account  of 
a  Mermaid  which  was  captured  in  the  Grecian 
Archipelago  in  the  preceding  year,  and  exhibited  in 
London.  The  account  is  ludicrously  minute,  and  it 
ends  with  :  "  It  is  said  to  have  an  enchanting  voice, 
which  it  never  exerts  except  before  a  storm."  This 
imposture  was  craftily  made  up  out  of  the  skin  of 
the  angle  shark.  In  Mr.  Morgan's  "  Tour  to  Mil- 


38  STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS. 

ford  Haven  in  the  year  1795,"  appears  an  equally 
circumstantial  account  of  a  Mermaid,  said  to  have 
been  seen  by  one  Henry  Reynolds,  a  farmer,  of 
Ren-y-hold,  in  the  parish  of  Castlemartin,  in  1782. 
It  resembled  a  youth  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  years  of 
age,  with  a  very  white  skin :  it  was  bathing.  The 
evidence  is  very  roundabout,  so  that  there  were 
abundant  means  for  converting  some  peculiar  kind 
of  fish  into  a  Merman,  without  imputing  intentional 
dishonesty  to  any  one.  "  Something  akin  to  this  kind 
of  evidence  is  observable  in  the  account  of  a  Mermaid 
seen  in  Caithness  in  1809,  which  attracted  much 
attention  in  England  as  well  as  in  Scotland,  and 
induced  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Glasgow  to 
investigate  the  matter.  The  Editor  of  a  newspaper, 
who  inserted  the  statement,  had  been  told  by  a 
gentleman,  who  had  been  shown  a  letter  by  Sir 
John  Sinclair,  who  had  obtained  it  from  Mr.  Innes, 
to  whom  it  had  been  written  by  Miss  Mackay,  who 
had  heard  the  story  from  the  persons  (two  servant 
girls  and  a  boy)  who  had  seen  the  strange  animal  in 
the  water."  (Chambers' s  "  Book  of  Days.") 

Then  we  read  of  a  so-called  Mermaid,  shown  in 
the  year  1794  at  No.  7,  Broad-court,  Bow-street, 
Covent-garden,  said  to  have  been  taken  in  the  North 
Seas  by  Captain  Foster.  It  was  of  the  usual  de- 
scription. 

Much  evidence  comes  from  Scotland.  Thus,  in 
the  year  1797,  a  schoolmaster  of  Thurso  affirmed 
that  he  had  seen  a  Mermaid,  apparently  in  the  act 
of  combing  her  hair  with  her  fingers  !  Twelve  years 


STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS.  39 

afterwards,  several  persons  observed  near  the  same 
place  a  like  appearance.  Dr.  Chisholm,  in  Ms  "  Essay 
on  Malignant  Fever  in  the  West  Indies,"  in  1801, 
relates  that,  in  the  year  1797,  happening  to  be  at 
Governor  Van  Battenburg's  plantation,  in  Berbice, 
"  the  conversation  turned  on  a  singular  animal  which 
had  been  repeatedly  seen  in  Berbice  river,  and  some 
smaller  rivers.  This  animal  is  the  famous  Mermaid, 
hitherto  considered  as  a  mere  creature  of  the  imagi- 
nation. It  is  called  by  the  Indians  mene,  mamma, 
or  mother  of  the  waters.  The  description  given  of 
it  by  the  Governor  is  as  follows  : — '  The  upper 
portion  resembles  the  human  figure,  the  head  smaller 
in  proportion,  sometimes  bare,  but  oftener  covered 
with  a  copious  quantity  of  long  black  hair.  The 
shoulders  are  broad,  and  the  breasts  large  and  well- 
formed.  The  lower  portion  resembles  the  tail  of  a 
fish,  is  of  great  dimensions,  the  tail  forked,  and  not 
unlike  that  of  the  dolphin,  as  it  is  usually  repre- 
sented. The  colour  of  the  skin  is  either  black  or 
tawny.'  The  animal  is  held  in  veneration  by  the 
Indians,  who  imagine  that  killing  it  would  be 
attended  with  calamitous  consequences.  It  is  from 
this  circumstance  that  none  of  these  animals  have 
been  shot,  and  consequently  examined  but  at  a 
distance.  They  have  been  generally  observed  in  a 
sitting  posture  in  the  water,  none  of  the  lower 
extremity  being  seen  until  they  are  disturbed,  when, 
by  plunging,  the  tail  agitates  the  water  to  a  con- 
siderable distance  round.  They  have  been  always 
seen  employed  in  smoothing  their  hair,  and  have 


40  STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS. 

thus  been  frequently  taken  for  Indian  women 
bathing."  In  1811,  a  young  man,  named  John 
M'Isaac,  of  Corphine,  in  Kintyre,  in  Scotland, 
made  oath,  on  examination  at  Campbell-town,  that 
he  saw,  on  the  13th  of  October  in  the  above  year, 
on  a  rock  on  the  sea-coast,  an  animal  which  generally 
corresponded  with  the  form  of  the  Mermaid — the 
upper  half  human  shape,  the  other  brindled  or 
reddish  grey,  apparently  covered  with  scales ;  the 
extremity  of  the  tail  greenish  red ;  head  covered 
with  long  hair,  at  times  put  back  on  both  sides  of 
the  head.  This  statement  was  attested  by  the 
minister  of  Campbell-town  and  the  Chamberlain  of 
Mull. 

In  August,  1812,  Mr.  Toupin,  of  Exmouth,  in  a 
sailing  excursion,  and  when  about  a  mile  south-east 
of  Exmouth  Bar,  heard  a  sound  like  that  of  the 
^Eolian  harp ;  and  saw,  at  about  one  hundred  yards 
distance,  a  creature,  which  was  regarded  as  a  Mer- 
maid. The  head,  from  the  crown  to  the  chin,  formed 
a  long  oval,  and  the  face  seemed  to  resemble  that  of 
the  seal,  though  with  more  agreeable  features.  The 
presumed  hair,  the  arms,  and  the  hand,  with  four 
fingers  connected  by  a  membrane,  are  then  described, 
and  the  tail  with  polished  scales.  The  entire  height 
of  the  animal  was  from  five  feet  to  five  and  a-half 
feet.  In  1819,  a  creature  approached  the  coast  of 
Ireland.  It  was  about  the  size  of  a  child  ten  years 
of  age,  with  prominent  bosom,  long  dark  hair,  and 
dark  eyes.  It  was  shot  at,  when  it  plunged  into  the 
sea  with  a  loud  scream. 


SEAL   AND    MERMAID. 


STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS.  41 

In  reviewing  these  stories  of  Mermaids,  it  may 
be  remarked  that  there  is  always  a  fish  in  each 
tale — either  a  living  fish  of  a  peculiar  kind,  which 
a  fanciful  person  thinks  to  bear  some  resemblance 
in  the  upper  part  to  a  human  being,  or  a  fish  which 
becomes  marvellous  in  the  progress  of  its  descrip- 
tion from  mouth  to  mouth.  It  is  commonly  thought 
the  seals  may  often  have  been  mistaken  for  Mer- 
maids. But,  of  all  the  animals  of  the  whale  tribe 
that  which  approaches  the  nearest  in  form  to  man 
is,  undoubtedly,  -the  Dugong,  which,  when  its  head 
and  breast  are  raised  above  the  water,  and  its  pec- 
toral fins,  resembling  hands,  are  visible,  might  easily 
be  taken  by  superstitious  seamen  for  a  semi-human 
being,  4or  a  Mermaid.  Of  this  deception  a  remark- 
able instance  occurred  in  1826.  The  skeleton  of  a 
Mermaid,  as  it  was  called,  was  brought  to  Ports- 
mouth, which  had  been  shot  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Island  of  Mombass.  This  was  submitted  to  the 
members  of  the  Philosophical  Society,  when  it 
proved  to  be  the  skeleton  of  a  Dugong.  To  those 
who  came  to  the  examination  with  preconceived 
notions  of  a  fabulous  Mermaid,  it  presented,  as  it 
lay  on  the  lecture-table,  a  singular  appearance.  It 
was  about  six  feet  long ;  the  lower  portion,  with  its 
broad  tail-like  extremity,  suggested  the  idea  of  a 
powerful  fish-like  termination,  whilst  the  forelegs 
presented  to  the  unskilful  eye  a  resemblance  to  the 
bones  of  a  small  female  arm ;  the  cranium,  however, 
had  a  brutal  form,  which  could  never  have  borne 
the  lineaments  of  "  the  human  face  divine." 


42  STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS. 

The  Mermaid  has  been  traced  to  the  Manatee  as 
well  as  to  the  Dugong :  the  former  is  an  aquatic 
animal,  externally  resembling  a  whale,  and  named 
from  its  nipper,  resembling  the  human  hand,  manus. 
Again,  the  mammce  (teats)  of  the  Manatees  and 
Dugongs  are  pectoral ;  and  this  conformation,  joined 
to  the  adroit  use  of  their  nippers  (whose  five  fingers 
can  easily  be  distinguished  through  the  inverting 
membranes,  four  of  them  being  terminated  by  nails) 
in  progression,  nursing  their  young,  &c.,  have  caused 
them,  when  seen  at  a  distance  with  the  anterior 
part  of  their  body  out  of  the  water,  to  be  taken  for 
some  creature  approaching  to  human  shape  so  nearly 
(especially  as  their  middle  is  thick  set  with  hair, 
giving  somewhat  of  the  effect  of  human  hair  or  a 
beard),  that  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  not  a 
few  of  the  tales  of  Mermen  and  Mermaids  have  had 
their  origin  with  these  animals  as  well  as  with  seals 
and  walruses.  Thus  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards 
give  the  Manatee  a  denomination  which  signifies 
Woman-fish ;  and  the  Dutch  call  the  Dugong  Baar- 
danetjee,  or  Little-bearded  Man.  A  very  little 
imagination  and  a  memory  for  only  the  marvellous 
portion  of  the  appearance  sufficed,  doubtless,  to  com- 
plete the  metamorphosis  of  this  half  woman  or  man, 
half  fish,  into  a  Siren,  a  Mermaid,  or  a  Merman; 
and  the  wild  recital  of  the  voyager  was  treasured 
up  by  writers  who,  as  Cuvier  well  observes,  have 
displayed  more  learning  than  judgment. 

The  comb  and  the  toilet-glass  have  already  been 
incidentally  mentioned  as  accessories  in  these  Mer- 


STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS.  43 

maid  stories  ;  and  these,  with  the  origin  of  the  crea- 
ture, Sir  George  Head  thus  ingeniously  attempts  to 
explain  : — "  The  resemblance  of  the  seal,  or  sea- 
calf,  to  the  calf  consists  only  in  the  voice,  and  the 
voice  of  the  calf  is  certainly  not  dissimilar  to  that 
of  a  man.  But  the  claws  of  the  seal,  as  well  as  the 
hand,  are  like  a  lady's  back-hair  comb ;  wherefore, 
altogether,  supposing  the  resplendence  of  sea-water 
streaming  down  its  polished  neck,  on  a  sunshiny 
day,  the  substitute  for  a  looking-glass,  we  arrive 
at  once  at  the  fabulous  history  of  the  marine  maiden 
or  mermaid,  and  the  appendages  of  her  toilet." 

The  progress  of  zoological  science  has  long  since 
destroyed  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  the  Mermaid. 
If  its  upper  structure  be  human,  with  lungs  resem- 
bling our  own,  how  could  such  a  creature  live  and 
breathe  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  where  it  is  stated 
to  be  ?  for  our  most  expert  divers  are  unable  to  stay 
under  water  more  than  half  an  hour.  Suppose  it  to 
be  of  the  cetaceous  class,  it  could  only  remain  under 
the  water  two  or  three  minutes  together  without 
rising  to  the  surface  to  take  breath ;  and  if  this 
were  the  case  with  the  Mermaid,  would  it  not  be 
oftener  seen  ? 

Half  a  century  has  scarcely  elapsed  since  a  manu- 
factured Mermaid  was  shown  in  London  with  all  the 
confidence  of  its  being  a  natural  creature.  In  the 
winter  of  1822  there  was  exhibited  at  the  Egyptian 
Hall,  in  Piccadilly,  this  pretended  Mermaid,  which 
was  visited  by  from  300  to  400  persons  daily  ! 
The  imposture,  however,  was  too  gross  to  last 


44  STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS. 

long;  and  it  was  ascertained  to  be  the  dried  skin 
of  the  head  and  shoulders  of  a  monkey  attached 
very  neatly  to  the  dried  skin  of  a  fish  of  the  salmon 
kind  with  the  head  cut  off;  the  compound  figure 
being  stuffed  and  highly  varnished,  the  better  to 
deceive  the  eye.  This  grotesque  object  was  taken 
by  a  Dutch  vessel  from  on  board  a  native  Malacca 
boat;  and  from  the  reverence  shown  to  it  by  the 
sailors  it  is  supposed  to  have  represented  the  incar- 
nation of  one  of  the  idol  gods  of  the  Malacca 
Islands.  A  correspondent  of  the  "Magazine  of 
Natural  History,"  1829,  however,  avers  that  the 
above  "  Mermaid "  was  brought  from  the  East 
Indies;  for  being  at  St.  Helena  in  1813  he  saw  it 
on  board  the  ship  which  was  bringing  it  to  England. 
The  impression  on  his  mind  was  that  it  was  an 
artificial  compound  of  the  upper  part  of  a  small 
ape  with  the  lower  half  of  a  fish ;  and  by  aid  of  a 
powerful  glass  he  ascertained  the  point  of  union 
between  the  two  parts.  He  was  somewhat  stag- 
gered to  find  that  this  was  so  neatly  effected  that 
the  precise  line  of  junction  was  not  satisfactorily 
apparent :  the  creature  was  then  in  its  best  state  of 
preservation. 

In  a  volume  of  "  Manners  and  Customs  of  the 
Japanese,"  published  in  1841,  we,  however,  find  the 
following  version  of  the  history  of  the  above  Mer- 
maid : — "  A  Japanese  fisherman  seems  to  have  dis- 
played ingenuity  for  the  mere  purpose  of  making 
money  by  his  countrymen's  passion  for  everything 
odd  and  strange.  He  contrived  to  unite  the  upper 


STORIES   OF   MERMAIDS.  45 

half  of  a  monkey  to  the  lower  half  of  a  fish  so  neatly 
as  to  defy  ordinary  inspection.  He  then  gave  out 
that  he  had  caught  the  creature  in  his  net,  but  that 
it  had  died  shortly  after  being  taken  out  of  the 
water ;  and  he  derived  considerable  pecuniary  profit 
from  his  cunning  in  more  ways  than  one.  The 
exhibition  of  the  sea  monster  to  Japanese  curiosity 
paid  well;  yet  more  productive  was  the  assertion 
that  the  half-human  fish,  having  spoken  during  the 
five  minutes  it  existed  out  of  its  native  element,  had 
predicted  a  certain  number  of  years  of  wonderful 
fertility  and  a  fatal  epidemic,  the  only  remedy  for 
which  would  be  the  possession  of  the  marine  pro- 
phet's likeness !  The  sale  of  these  pictured  Mermaids 
was  immense.  Either  the  composite  animal,  or 
another,  the  offspring  of  the  success  of  the  first, 
was  sold  to  the  Dutch  factory  and  transmitted  to 
Batavia,  where  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  speculating 
American,  who  brought  it  to  Europe;  and  here,  in 
the  year  1822-3,  exhibited  his  purchase  as  a  real 
Mermaid  to  the  admiration  of  the  ignorant,  the 
perplexity  of  the  learned,  and  the  filling  of  his 
own  purse." 

The  Editor  of  the  "Literary  Gazette,"  Mr.  Jer- 
dan,  was  the  first  to  expose  the  fabulous  creature 
of  the  Egyptian  Hall.  He  plainly  said: — "Our 
opinion  is  fixed  that  it  is  a  composition ;  a  most 
ingenious  one,  we  grant,  but  still  nothing  beyond 
the  admirably  put-together  members  of  various 
animals.  The  extraordinary  skill  of  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese  in  executing  such  deceptions  is  noto- 


46  STORIES    OF   MERMAIDS. 

rious,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  Mermaid  is  a 
manufacture  from  the  Indian  Sea,  where  it  has  been 
pretended  it  was  caught.  We  are  not  of  those  who 
because  they  happen  not  to  have  had  direct  proof  of 
the  existence  of  any  extraordinary  natural  phenome- 
non, push  scepticism  to  the  extreme  and  deny  its 
possibility.  The  depths  of  the  sea,  in  all  proba- 
bility, from  various  chemical  and  philosophical 
causes,  contain  animals  unknown  to  its  surface- 
waters,  rarely  if  ever  seen  by  human  eye.  But 
when  a  creature  is  presented  to  us  having  no  other 
organization  but  that  which  is  suitable  to  a  medium 
always  open  to  our  observation,  it  in  the  first  instance 
excites  suspicion  that  only  one  individual  of  the 
species  should  be  discovered  and  obtained.  When 
knowledge  was  more  limited,  the  stories  of  Mer- 
maids seen  in  distant  quarters  might  be  credited 
by  the  many,  and  not  entirely  disbelieved  by  the 
few ;  but  now,  when  European  and  especially 
British  commerce  fills  every  corner  of  the  earth 
with  men  of  observation  and  science,  the  unique 
becomes  the  incredible,  and  we  receive  with  far 
greater  doubt  the  apparition  of  such  anomalies  as 
the  present.  It  is  curious  that  though  medical  men 
seem  in  general  to  regard  the  creature  as  a  possible 
production  of  nature,  no  naturalist  of  any  ability 
credits  it  after  five  minutes'  observation !  This 
may,  perhaps,  be  accounted  for  by  their  acquaintance 
with  the  parts  of  distinct  animals,  of  which  it  appears 
the  Mermaid  is  composed.  The  cheeks  of  the  blue- 
faced  ape,  the  canine  teeth,  the  simia  upper  body, 


STORIES    OF   MERMAIDS.  47 

and  the  tail  of  the  fish,  are  all  familiar  to  them 
in  less  complex  combinations,  and  they  pronounce 
at  once  that  the  whole  is  an  imposture.  And  such 
is  our  settled  conviction."  Though  naturalists  and 
journalists  fully  exposed  the  imposture,  this  did  not 
affect  the  exhibition,  which  for  a  considerable  time 
continued  as  crowded  as  ever ;  but  the  notoriety  had 
dwindled  down  to  "a  penny  show,"  at  Bartholomew 
Fair,  by  the  year  1825. 

After  so  many  exposures  of  the  absurd  belief  in 
Mermaids,  it  could  scarcely  be  expected  that  any 
person  could  be  found  in  Europe  weak  enough  to 
report  the  existence  of  one  of  these  creatures  to  an 
eminent  scientific  Society.  Yet,  on  the  22d  of  June, 
1840,  the  first  Secretary  of  the  Ottoman  Embassy 
at  Paris  addressed  a  note  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences, 
stating  that  his  father,  who  was  in  the  Admiralty 
department  at  Constantinople,  had  recently  seen  a 
Mermaid  while  crossing  the  Bosphorus,  which  com- 
munication was  received  with  much  laughter. 

We  have  still  another  recorded  instance — and  in 
Scotland.  In  the  year  1857  two  fishermen  on  the 
Argyleshire  coast  declared  that  when  on  their  way 
to  the  fishing-station,  Lochindale,  in  a  boat,  and 
when  about  four  miles  south-west  from  the  village 
of  Port  Charlotte,  about  six  o'clock  in  a  June  even- 
ing, they  distinctly  saw,  at  about  six  yards  distance, 
an  object  in  the  form  of  a  woman,  with  comely  face 
and  fine  hair  hanging  in  ringlets  over  the  neck  and 
shoulders.  It  was  above  the  surface  of  the  water 
gazing  at  the  fishermen  for  three  or  four  minutes 


48  STORIES    OF    MERMAIDS. 

— and  then  vanished !  Yet  this  declaration  was 
officially  attested ! 

In  1863  Mermaids  were  supposed  to  abound  in 
the  ponds  and  ditches  of  Suffolk,  where  careful 
mothers  used  them  as  bugbears  to  prevent  little 
children  from  going  too  near  the  water.  Children 
described  them  as  "nasty  things  that  crome  you 
(hook  you)  into  the  water;"  others  as  "a  great 
big  thing  like  a  feesh,"  probably  a  pike  basking  in 
the  shallow  water. 

Sometimes  the  Mermaid  has  assumed  a  pictur- 
esqueness  in  fairy  tale;  and  her  impersonation 
has  been  described  by  Dryden  as  "a  fine  woman, 
with  a  fish's  tail."  And,  laying  aside  her  scaly 
train,  she  has  appeared  as  a  lovely  woman,  with  sea- 
green  hair ;  and  Crofton  Croker  relates,  in  his 
"Fairy  Legends,"  a  marriage  between  an  Irish 
fisherman  and  a  "Merrow,"  as  the  Mermaid  is 
called  in  Ireland. 


IS  THE  UNICOKIST  FABULOUS? 


10  this  question  we  may  reply,  in  the  words 
of  a  writer  of  1633,  "  Concerning  the 
Unicorn,  different  opinions  prevail  among 
authors  :  some  doubt,  others  deny,  and  a  third  class 
affirm  its  existence."  The  question  'has  lasted  two 
thousand  years,  and  is  every  now  and  then  kept  alive 
by  fresh  evidences. 

Ctesias,  a  credulous  Greek  physician,  who  appears 
to  have  resided  at  the  Court  of  Persia,  in  the  time 
of  the  younger  Cyrus,  about  400  years  before  the 
birth  of  Christ,  describes  the  wild  asses  of  India  as 
equal  to  the  horse  in  size,  and  even  larger,  with 
white  bodies,  red  heads,  bluish  eyes,  and  a  horn  on 
the  forehead  a  cubit  in  length ;  the  part  from  the 
forehead  entirely  white,  the  middle  black,  and  the  ex- 
tremity red  and  pointed.  Drinking- vessels  were  made 
of  it,  and  those  who  used  them  were  subject  neither  to 
convulsions,  epilepsy,  nor  poison,  provided  that 
before  taking  the  poison,  or  after,  they  drank  from 
these  cups  water,  wine,  or  any  other  liquor.  Ctesias 


50  IS   THE    UNICORN   FABULOUS? 

describes  these  animals  as  very  swift  and  very 
strong.  Naturally  they  were  not  ferocious;  but 
when  they  found  themselves  and  their  young  sur- 
rounded by  horsemen,  they  did  not  abandon  their 
offspring,  but  defended  themselves  by  striking 
with  their  horns,  kicking,  and  biting,  and  so  slew 
many  men  and  horses.  This  animal  was  also  shot 
with  arrows  and  brought  down  with  darts ;  for  it  was 
impossible  to  take  it  alive.  Its  flesh  was  too  bitter 
for  food,  but  it  was  hunted  for  its  horn  and  astra- 
galus (ankle-bone),  which  last  Ctesias  declares  he 
saw.  Aristotle  describes  the  Indian  ass  with  a  single 
horn.  Herodotus  mentions  asses  having  horns ;  and 
Strabo  refers  to  Unicorn  horses,  with  the  heads  of 
deers.  Oppian  notices  the  Aonian  bulls  with  undi- 
vided hoofs,  and  a  single  median  horn  between  their 
temples.  Pliny  notices  it  as  a  very  ferocious  beast, 
similar  in  its  body  to  a  horse,  with  the  head  of  a 
deer,  the  feet  of  an  elephant,  the  tail  of  a  boar,  a 
deep  bellowing  voice,  and  a  single  black  horn  stand- 
ing out  in  the  middle  of  its  forehead.  He  adds,  that 
it  cannot  be  taken  alive ;  and  some  such  excuse  may 
have  been  necessary  in  those  days  for  not  producing 
the  living  animal  upon  the  arena  of  the  amphi- 
theatre. 

Out  of  this  passage  most  of  the  modern  Unicorns 
have  been  described  and  figured.  The  body  of  the 
horse  and  the  head  of  the  deer  appear  to  be  but 
vague  sketches ;  the  feet  of  the  elephant  and  the  tail 
of  the  boar  point  at  once  to  a  pachydermatous  (thick- 
skinned)  animal ;  and  the  single  black  horn,  allow- 


IS   THE    UNICORN    FABULOUS?  51 

ing  for  a  little  exaggeration  as  to  its  length,  well 
fits  the  two  last-mentioned  conditions,  and  will 
apply  to  the  Indian  rhinoceros,  which,  says  the 
sound  naturalist,  Ogilby,  "  affords  a  remarkable  in- 
stance of  the  obstructions  which  the  progress  of 
knowledge  may  suffer,  and  the  gross  absurdities 
which  not  unfrequently  result  from  the  wrong  appli- 
cation of  a  name."  Mr.  Ogilby  then  refers  to  the 
account  of  Ctesias,  which  we  have  just  quoted, 
and  adds  : — "  His  account,  though  mixed  up  with  a 
great  deal  of  credulous  absurdity,  contains  a  very 
valuable  and  perfectly  recognisable  description  of  the 
rhinoceros,  under  the  ridiculous  name,  however,  of 
the  Indian  Ass ;  and,  as  he  attributed  to  it  a  whole 
hoof  like  the  horse,  and  a  single  horn  in  the  fore- 
head, speculation  required  but  one  step  further  to 
produce  the  fabulous  Unicorn." 

The  ancient  writers  who  have  treated  of  the  Uni- 
corn are  too  numerous  for  us  to  specify.  Some  of 
the  moderns  may  be  referred  to.  Garcias  describes 
this  marvellous  creature  from  one  who  alleges  that 
he  had  seen  it.  The  seer  affirmed  that  it  was  en- 
dowed with  a  wonderful  horn,  which  it  would  some- 
times turn  to  the  left  and  right,  at  others  raise,  and 
then  again  depress.  Ludovicus  Vartomanus  writes, 
that  he  saw  two  sent  to  the  Sultan  from  Ethiopia, 
and  kept  in  a  repository  at  Mahomet's  tomb  in 
Mecca.  Cardan  describes  the  Unicorn  as  a  rare 
animal,  the  size  of  a  horse,  with  hair  very  like  that 
of  a  weasel,  with  the  head  of  a  deer,  on  which  one 
horn  grows  three  cubits  in  length  (a  story  seldom 
D  2 


52  IS   THE    UNICORN    FABULOUS? 

loses  anything  in  its  progress)  from  the  forehead, 
ample  at  its  lowest  part,  and  tapering  to  a  point ; 
with  a  short  neck,  a  very  thin  mane,  leaning  to  one 
side  only,  and  less  on  the  ear,  as  those  of  a  young  roe. 

In  Jonston's  "  Historia  Naturalis,"  1657,  we  see 
the  smooth-horned  solipede,  "Wald  Esel ;"  and  the 
digitated  and  clawed  smooth-horned  "Meer  "Wolff," 
the  latter  with  his  single  horn  erect  in  the  fore- 
ground, but  with  it  depressed  in  the  background, 
where  he  is  represented  regaling  on  serpents.  Then 
there  are  varieties,  with  the  head,  mane,  and  tail  of 
a  horse ;  another  smooth-horned,  with  a  horse's  head 
and  mane,  a  pig's-tail  and  camel-like  feet ;  the 
"Meer  Stenbock,  Capricornus  Marinus,"  with  hind 
webbed  feet,  and  a  kind  of  graduated  horn,  like  an 
opera-glass  pulled  out,  in  the  foreground,  and  charg- 
ing the  fish  most  valiantly  in  the  water  in  the  dis- 
tance. Then  there  is  another,  with  a  mule's  head 
and  two  rhinoceros-like  horns,  one  on  his  forehead 
and  the  other  on  his  nose ;  and  a  horse's  tail,  with  a 
collar  round  his  neck ;  a  neck  entirely  shaggy — and 
a  twisted  horn,  a  shaggy  gorget,  and  curly  tail,  are 
among  other  peculiarities. 

The  Unicorn  seems  to  have  been  a  sad  trouble  to 
the  hunters,  who  hardly  knew  how  to  come  at  so 
valuable  a  piece  of  game.  Some  described  the  horn 
as  moveable  at  the  will  of  the  animal — a  kind  of 
small  sword,  in  short,  with  which  no  hunter  who  was 
not  exceedingly  cunning  in  fence  could  have  a  chance. 
Others  told  the  poor  foresters  that  all  the  strength 
lay  in  its  horn,  and  that  when  pressed  by  them  it 


IS   THE   UNICORN   FABULOUS?  53 

would  throw  itself  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  highest 
rock,  horn  foremost,  so  as  to  pitch  upon  it,  and  then 
quietly  march  off  not  a  bit  the  worse  ! 

Modern  zoologists,  disgusted  as  they  well  may  be 
with  fables,  such  as  we  have  glanced  at,  disbelieve, 
generally,  the  existence  of  the  Unicorn,  such,  at 
least,  as  we  have  referred  to ;  but  there  is  still  an 
opinion  that  some  land  animal  bearing  a  horn  on 
the  anterior  part  of  its  head,  exists  besides  the 
rhinoceros.  The  nearest  approach  to  a  horn  in  the 
middle  of  the  forehead  of  any  terrestrial  mam- 
miferous  animal  known  to  us  is  the  bony  protuber- 
ance on  the  forehead  of  the  giraffe ;  and  though  it 
would  be  presumptuous  to  deny  the  existence  of  a 
one-horned  quadruped  other  than  the  rhinoceros,  it 
may  be  safely  stated  that  the  insertion  of  a  long  and 
solid  horn  in  the  living  forehead  of  a  horse-like  or 
deer-like  cranium  is  as  near  an  impossibility  as  any- 
thing can  be. 

Rupell,  after  a  long  sojourn  in  the  north-east  of 
Africa,  stated  that  in  Kordofan  the  Unicorn  exists  ; 
stated  to  be  the  size  of  a  small  horse,  of  the  slender 
make  of  the  gazelle,  and  furnished  with  a  long 
straight  horn  in  the  male,  which  was  wanting  in  the 
female.  According  to  the  statements  made  by 
various  persons,  it  inhabits  the  deserts  to  the  south 
of  Koretofan,  is  uncommonly  fleet,  and  comes  only 
occasionally  to  the  Koldagi  Heive  mountains  on  the 
borders  of  Kordofan. 

Other  writers  refer  the  Unicorn  to  the  antelope. 
The  origin  of  the  name  of  antelope  is  traced  by 


54  IS    THE    UNICORN    FABULOUS? 

Cuvier  to  the  Greek  Anthalops,  applied  to  a  fabulous 
animal  living  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  with 
long  jagged  horns,  with  which  it  sawed  down  trees 
of  considerable  thickness !  Others  conjecture  this 
animal  to  have  been  the  Oryx,  a  species  of  antelope, 
which  is  fabulously  reported  to  have  had  only  one 
horn,  and  to  have  been  termed  Panthalops  in  the  old 
language  of  Egypt. 

In  his  "  Revolutions  on  the  Surface  of  the  Globe," 
Cuvier  refers  the  idea  of  the  Unicorn  to  the  coarse* 
figures  traced  by  savages  on  rocks.  Ignorant  of 
perspective,  and  wishing  to  present  in  profile  the 
horned  antelope,  they  could  only  give  it  one  horn  ; 
and  thus  originated  the  Oryx.  The  oryx  of  the 
Egyptian  monuments  is,  most  probably,  but  the 
production  of  a  similarly  crude  style,  which  the  reli- 
gion of  the  country  imposed  on  the  artist.  Many  of 
the  profiles  of  quadrupeds  have  only  one  leg  before 
and  one  behind :  why,  then,  should  they  show  two 
horns  ?  It  is  possible  that  individual  animals  might 
be  taken  in  the  chase  whom  accident  had  despoiled 
of  one  horn,  as  it  often  happens  to  chamois  and  the 
Scythian  antelope  ;  and  that  would  suffice  to  confirm 
the  error  which  these  pictures  originally  produced. 
It  is  thus,  probably,  that  we  find  anew  the  Unicorn 
in  the  mountains  of  Thibet. 

The  Chiru  Antelope  is  the  supposed  Unicorn  of  the 
Bhotians.  In  form  it  approaches  the  deer ;  the 
horns  are  exceedingly  long,  are  placed  very  forward 
in  the  head,  and  may  be  popularly  described  as 
erect  and  straight.  It  is  usually  found  in  herds, 


IS    THE    UNICORN    FABULOUS?  55 

and  is  extremely  wild,  and  unapproachable  by 
man.  It  is  much  addicted  to  salt  in  summer,  when 
vast  herds  are  often  seen  at  the  rock-salt  beds 
which  abound  in  Tibet.  They  are  said  to  advance 
under  the  conduct  of  a  leader,  and  to  post  sentinels 
around  the  beds  before  they  attempt  to  feed. 

Major  Salter  is  stated  to  have  obtained  information 
of  the  existence  of  an  animal  in  Tibet  closely  re- 
sembling the  Unicorn  of  the  ancients,  which  revived 
the  belief  of  naturalists  by  adducing  testimonies  from 
Oriental  writings.  Upon  this  statement,  M.  Klaproth 
remarks,  that  previous  to  Major  Salterns  Reports,  the 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  returned  to  Europe  from 
China  by  way  of  Tibet  and  Nepal,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  mentioned  that  the  Unicorn  was  found  in 
that  part  of  the  Great  Desert  which  bounds  China 
to  the  west,  where  they  crossed  the  great  wall ;  that 
Captain  Turner,  when  travelling  in  Tibet,  was  in- 
formed by  the  Raja  of  Boutan  that  he  had  one  of 
these  animals  alive ;  and  that  Bell,  in  his  "  Travels 
to  Peking,"  describes  a  Unicorn  which  was  found 
on  the  southern  front  of  Siberia.  He  adds  : — "  The 
great  ' Tibetan-Mongol  Dictionary'  mentions  the 
Unicorn ;  and  the  (  Geographical  Dictionary  of  Tibet 
and  Central  Asia/  printed  at  Peking,  where  it  de- 
scribes a  district  in  the  province  of  Kham,  in  Tibet, 
named  Sera-zeong,  explains  this  name  by  l  the  River 
of  Unicorns/  because/'  adds  the  author,  "  many  of 
these  animals  are  found  there." 

In  the  "  History  of  the  Mongol-Khans,"  published 
and  translated  at  St.  Petersburg,  we  find  the  follow- 


56  IS    THE    UNICORN    FABULOUS? 

ing  statement : — Genghiz  Khan,  having  subjected 
all  Tibet  in  1206,  commenced  his  march  for  Hindus- 
tan. As  he  ascended  Mount  Jadanarung,  he  beheld 
a  beast  approaching  him  of  the  deer  kind,  of  the 
species  called  Seron,  which  have  a  single  horn  at  the 
top  of  the  head.  It  fell  on  its  knees  thrice  before 
the  monarch,  as  if  to  pay  respect  to  him.  Every  one 
was  astonished  at  this  incident.  The  monarch  ex- 
claimed, "The  Empire  of  Hindustan  is,  we  are 
assured,  the  country  where  are  born  the  majestic 
Buddhas  and  Bodhisatwas,  as  well  as  the  potent 
Bogdas  and  princes  of  antiquity :  what  can  be  the 
meaning,  then,  of  this  animal,  incapable  of  speech, 
saluting  me  like  a  man  ?"  Upon  this,  he  returned 
to  his  own  country.  "  This  story,"  continues  M. 
Klaproth,  "  is  also  related  by  Mahommedan  authors 
who  have  written  the  life  of  Genghiz.  Something  of 
the  kind  must,  therefore,  have  taken  place.  Pos- 
sibly, some  of  the  Mongol  conqueror's  suite  may 
have  taken  a  Unicorn,  which  Genghiz  thus  employed, 
to  gain  a  pretext  for  abstaining  from  an  expedition 
which  promised  no  success." 

Upon  this  statement,  it  was  observed  in  the 
"Asiatic  Register,"  1839,  that  "when  we  consider 
that  seventeen  years  have  elapsed  since  the  account 
of  Major  Salter  was  given,  and  that,  notwithstand- 
ing our  increased  opportunities  of  intercourse  with 
Tibet,  no  fact  has  since  transpired  which  supplies  a 
confirmation  of  that  account,  except  the  obtaining 
of  a  supposed  horn  of  the  supposed  Unicorn,  we 
cannot  participate  in  these  renewed  hopes." 


IS   THE   UNICORN   FABULOUS?  57 

The  Rev.  John  Campbell,  in  his  "  Travels  in  South 
Africa,"  describes  the  head  of  another  animal,  which, 
as  far  as  the  horn  is  concerned,  seems  to  approach 
nearer  than  the  common  rhinoceros  to  the  Unicorn 
of  the  ancients.  While  in  the  Machow  territory,  the 
Hottentots  brought  to  Mr.  Campbell  a  head  differing 
from  that  of  any  rhinoceros  that  had  been  previously 
killed.  "The  common  African  rhinoceros  has  a 
crooked  horn,  resembling  a  cock's  spur,  which  rises 
about  nine  or  ten  inches  above  the  nose,  and  inclines 
backward  j  immediately  behind  which  is  a  straight 
thick  horn.  But  the  head  brought  by  the  Hottentots 
had  a  straight  horn  projecting  three  feet  from  the 
forehead,  about  ten  inches  above  the  tip  of  the  nose. 
The  projection  of  this  great  horn  very  much  re- 
sembles that  of  the  fanciful  Unicorn  in  the  British 
arms.  It  has  a  small  thick  horny  substance,  eight 
inches  long,  immediately  behind  it,  which  can  hardly 
be  observed  on  the  animal  at  the  distance  of  a  hun- 
dred yards ;  so  that  this  species  must  look  like  an 
Unicorn  (in  the  sense  'one-horned')  when  running 
in  the  field."  The  author  adds  : — "  This  animal  is 
considered  by  naturalists,  since  the  arrival  of  the 
above  skull  in  London,  to  be  the  Unicorn  of  the 
ancients,  and  the  same  that  is  described  in  Job  xxxix. 
9 — '  Will  the  Unicorn  be  willing  to  serve  thee,  or 
abide  by  thy  crib  ?  10.  Canst  thou  bind  the  Uni- 
corn with  his  band  in  the  furrow  ?  or  will  he  harrow 
the  valleys  after  thee?  11.  Wilt  thou  trust  him 
because  his  strength  is  great  ?  or  wilt  thou  leave  thy 
labour  to  him  ? '  Again,  Deuteronomy  xxxiii.  17 — 


58  IS   THE    UNICORN    FABULOUS? 

'  His  horns  are  like  the  horns  of  Unicorns :  with 
them  he  shall  push  the  people  together  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth.'  " 

A  fragment  of  the  skull,  with  the  horn,  is 
deposited  in  the  Museum  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society. 

Mr.  "W.  B.  Baikie  writes  to  the  Athenceum  from 
Bida  Nupe,  Central  Africa,  in  1862,  the  following 
suggestions  : — "  "When  I  ascended  the  Niger,  now 
nearly  five  years  ago,  I  frequently  heard  allusions  to 
an  animal  of  this  nature,  but  at  that  time  I  set  it 
down  as  a  myth.  Since  then,  however,  the  amount 
of  testimony  I  have  received,  and  the  universal  belief 
of  the  natives  of  all  the  countries  which  I  have 
hitherto  visited,  have  partly  shaken  my  scepticism, 
and  at  present  I  simply  hold  that  its  non-existence 
is  not  proven.  A  skull  of  .this  animal  is  said  to  be 
preserved  in  a  town  in  the  country  of  Bonii,  through 
which  I  hope  to  pass  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks, 
when  I  shall  make  every  possible  inquiry.  Two 
among  my  informants  have  repeatedly  declared  to 
me  that  they  have  seen  the  bones  of  this  animal,  and 
each  made  particular  mention  of  the  long,  straight,  or 
nearly  straight,  black  horn.  In  countries  to  the 
east,  and  south-east,  as  Margi  and  Bagirmi,  where 
the  one-horned  rhinoceros  is  found,  the  hunters 
carefully  distinguished  between  it  and  the  supposed 
Unicorn,  and  give  them  different  names.  In  the 
vast  forests  and  boundless  wastes  which  occur  over 
Central  Africa,  especially  towards  the  countries 
south  and  east  of  Lake  Tsad,  Bdrnii,  Bagirmi  and 


IS   THE   UNICORN   FABULOUS?  59 

Adamawa,  are  doubtless  numerous  zoological  curi- 
osities as  yet  unknown  to  the  man  of  science,  and 
among  them  possibly  may  exist  this  much-talked- of, 
strange,  one-horned  animal,  even  though  it  may 
not  exactly  correspond  with  our  typical  English 
Unicorn." 

The  factitious  horn  has  been  preserved  in  various 
Museums.  The  "  Monocero  Horn,"  in  Tradescant's 
collection,  was,  probably,  that  which  ordinarily  has 
passed  for  the  horn  of  the  Unicorn,  namely,  the 
tooth  of  a  narwhal.  Old  legends  assert  that  the 
Unicorn,  when  he  goes  to  drink,  first  dips  his  horn 
in  the  water  to  purify  it,  and  that  other  beasts  delay 
to  quench  their  thirst  till  the  Unicorn  has  thus 
sweetened  the  water.  The  narwhal's  tooth  makes  a 
capital  twisted  Unicorn's  horn,  as  represented  in  the 
old  figures.  That  in  the  Repository  of  St.  Denis,  at 
Paris,  was  presented  by  Thevet,  and  was  declared  to 
have  been  given  to  him  by  the  King  of  Monomotapa, 
who  took  him  out  to  hunt  Unicorns,  which  are  fre- 
quent in  that  country.  Some  have  thought  that 
this  horn  was  a  carved  elephant's  tooth.  There  is 
one  at  Strasburg,  some  seven  or  eight  feet  in  length, 
and  there  are  several  in  Venice. 

Great  medical  virtues  were  attributed  to  the  so- 
called  horn,  and  the  price  it  once  bore  outdoes 
everything  in  the  Tulipomania.  A  Florentine  phy- 
sician has  recorded  that  a  pound  of  it  (sixteen  ounces) 
was  sold  in  the  shops  for  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  crowns,  when  the  same  weight  in  gold  would  only 
have  brought  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  crowns. 


60  IS   THE    UNICORN   FABULOUS? 

From  what  source  we  derive  the  stories  of  the  ani- 
mosity between  the  lion  and  the  Unicorn  is  not 
clearly  understood,  although  this  is  the  principal 
medium  through  which  the  fabulous  creature  has 
been  kept  in  remembrance  by  being  constantly 
before  us  in  the  Royal  Arms,  which  were  settled  at 
the  Accession  of  George  I.  We  owe  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Unicorn,  however,  to  James  I.,  who,  as 
King  of  Scotland,  bore  two  Unicorns,  and  coupled 
one  with  the  English  lion,  when  the  two  kingdoms 
were  united. 

The  position  of  the  lion  and  Unicorn  in  the  arms 
of  our  country  seems  to  have  given  rise  (naturally 
enough  in  the  mind  of  one  who  was  ignorant  of 
heraldic  decoration)  to  a  nursery  rhyme  which  most 
of  us  remember  : — 

"  The  Lion  and  the  Unicorn 

Were  fighting  for  the  crown  ; 
The  Lion  beat  the  Unicorn 
All  round  the  town,"  &c. 

unless  it  alludes  to  a  contest  for  dominion  over  the 
brute  creation,  which  the  "  rebellious  Unicorn,"  as 
Spenser  calls  it,  seems  to  have  waged  with  the  tawny 
monarch. 

Spenser,  in  his  "  Faerie  Queen,"  gives  the  follow- 
ing curious  way  of  catching  the  Unicorn  : — 

"  Like  as  a  lyon,  whose  iinperiall  powre, 
A  prowd  rebellious  Unicorn  defyes, 
T  'avoide  the  rash  assault  and  wrathful  stowre 
Of  his  fiers  foe,  him  a  tree  applyes, 
And  when  him  rousing  in  full  course  he  spyes, 


IS   THE    UNICORN   FABULOUS?  61 

He  slips  aside  ;  the  whiles  that  furious  beast 
His  precious  home,  sought  of  his  eiieniyes, 
Strikes  in  the  stocke,  ne  thence  can  be  releast, 
But  to  the  mighty  victor  yields  a  bounteous  feast." 

Shakspeare,  also  ("Julius  Caesar,"  Act  ii.  scene  1), 
speaks  of  the  supposed  mode  of  entrapping  them : — 

"  For  he  loves  to  hear 
That  Unicorns  may  be  betrayed  with  trees, 
And  bears  with  glasses,  elephants  with  holes, 
Lions  with  toils,  and  men  with  flatterers." 

We  have  no  satisfactory  reason  for  believing  that 
man  ever  coexisted  with  Mastodons ;  otherwise  Pro- 
fessor Owen's  discovery  of  the  retention  of  a  single 
tusk  only  by  the  male  gigantic  Mastodon,  might 
have  afforded  another  form  of  Unicorn. 

Whatever  the  zoologists  may  have  done  towards 
extirpating  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  the  Uni- 
corn, it  is  ever  kept  in  sight  by  heraldry,  which, 
with  its  animal  absurdities,  has  contributed  more 
to  the  propagation  of  error  respecting  the  natural 
world  than  any  other  species  of  misrepresentation. 


THE  MOLE  AT  HOME. 


jHE  Mole,  though  generally  a  despised  and 
persecuted  animal,  is  nevertheless  useful  to 
the  husbandman  in  being  the  natural  drainer 
of  his  land  and  destroyer  of  worms.  To  other  in- 
ferior animals  he  is  a  sapper  and  miner,  forming  for 
them  their  safe  retreats  and  well-secured  dormitories. 
The  economy  of  the  Mole  has  been  much  con- 
troverted among  naturalists.  It  is  found  through- 
out the  greater  part  of  Europe.  We  are  overrun 
with  it  in  most  parts  of  England  and  Wales ;  but  it 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  found  in  the  northern 
extremity  of  Scotland,  and  there  is  no  record  of  it's 
having  been  seen  in  the  Orkney  Isles,  Zetland,  or 
Ireland.  Its  most  diligent  and  instructive  historian 
is  Henri  Le  Court,  who,  flying  from  the  terrors 
that  came  in  the  train  of  the  French  Revolution, 
betook  himself  to  the  country,  and  from  being  the 
attendant  on  a  Court,  became  the  biographer  of  this 
humble  animal.  M.  Geoffroy  St.  Hilaire,  the  cele- 
brated French  naturalist,  visited  Le  Court  for  the 


THE    MOLE    AT    HOME.  63 

purpose  of  testing  his  observations,  and  appears  to 
have  been  charmed  by  the  facility  and  ingenuity 
with  which  Le  Court  traced  and  demonstrated  the 
subterraneous  labours  of  this  obscure  worker  in 
the  dark. 

We  shall  first  briefly  describe  the  adaptation  of 
its  structure  to  its  habits.  The  bony  framework  is 
set  in  motion  by  very  powerful  muscles,  those  of 
the  chest  and  neck  being  most  vigorous.  The  wide 
hand,  which  is  the  great  instrument  of  action,  and 
performs  the  offices  of  a  pickaxe  and  shovel,  is  sharp- 
edged  on  its  lower  margin,  and  when  clothed  with 
the  integuments  the  fingers  are  hardly  distinguish- 
able. The  muzzle  of  the  Mole  is  evidently  a  delicate 
organ  of  touch,  as  are  also  the  large  and  broad  hands 
and  feet ;  and  the  tail  has  much  sensitiveness  to  give 
notice  to  the  animal  of  the  approach  of  any  attack 
from  behind.  Its  taste  and  smell,  especially  the 
latter,  are  very  sensitive.  Its  sight  is  almost  rudi- 
mentary. The  little  eye  is  so  hidden  in  the  fur  that 
its  very  existence  was  for  a  long  time  doubted.  It 
appears  to  be  designed  for  operating  only  as  a  warn- 
ing to  the  animal  on  its  emerging  into  the  light ; 
indeed,  more  acute  vision  would  only  have  been  an 
encumbrance.  If  the  sight  be  imperfect,  the  sense 
of  hearing  is  very  acute,  and  the  tympanum  very 
large,  though  there  is  no  external  ear,  perhaps 
because  the  earth  assists  considerably  in  vibration. 
The  fore-feet  are  inclined  sideways,  so  as  to  answer 
the  use  of  hands,  to  scoop  out  the  earth  to  form  its 
habitation  or  pursue  its  prey,  and  to  fling  all  the 


64  THE    MOLE    AT    HOME. 

loose  soil  behind  the  animal.  The  breastbone  in 
shape  resembles  a  ploughshare.  The  skin  is  so 
tough  as  only  to  be  cut  by  a  very  sharp  knife.  The 
hair  is  very  short  and  close-set,  and  softer  than  the 
finest  silk ;  colour  black ;  some  spotted  and  cream- 
coloured.  This  hair  is  yielding ;  had  it  been  strong, 
as  in  the  rat  or  mouse,  it  would  doubly  have 
retarded  the  progress  of  the  creature;  first  by  its 
resistance,  and  then  acting  as  a  brush,  so  as  to  choke 
up  the  galleries,  by  removing  the  loose  earth  from 
the  sides  and  ceilings  of  the  galleries. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  verdant  circles  so  often 
seen  in  grass  ground,  called  by  country  people  fairy 
rings,  are  owing  to  the  operations  of  Moles  :  at 
certain  seasons  they  perform  their  burrowings  in 
circles,  which,  loosening  the  soil,  gives  the  surface 
a  greater  fertility  and  rankness  of  grass  than  the 
other  parts  within  or  without  the  ring.  The  larger 
mole-hills  denote  the  nests  or  dens  of  the  Mole 
beneath. 

The  feeling  of  the  Mole  is  so  acute  that  when 
casting  up  the  earth,  it  is  sensible  of  very  gentle 
pressure ;  hence  molecatchers  tread  lightly  when 
in  quest  of  Moles ;  and  unless  this  caution  is  used 
the  Mole  ceases  its  operation,  and  instantly  retires. 
Again,  so  acute  is  the  smell,  that  molecatchers  draw 
the  body  of  a  captured  Mole  through  their  traps 
and  the  adjoining  runs  and  passages  to  remove  all 
suspicious  odours  which  might  arise  from  the  touch 
of  their  fingers. 

During  summer  the  Mole  runs  in  search  of  snails 


THE    MOLE    AT    HOME.  65 

and  worms  in  the  night-time  among  the  grass,  which 
pursuit  makes  it  the  prey  of  owls.  The  Mole  shows 
great  art  in  skinning  a  worm,  which  it  always  does 
before  it  eats  it,  by  stripping  the  skin  from  end  to  end, 
and  squeezing  out  the  contents  of  the  body.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  any  other  animal  exists  which  is 
obliged  to  eat  at  such  short  intervals  as  the  Mole, 
ten  or  twelve  hours  appearing  to  be  the  maximum  of 
its  fasting  ;  at  the  end  of  that  time  it  dies.  Cuvier 
tells  us  that  if  two  Moles  are  shut  up  together 
without  food,  there  will  shortly  be  nothing  left  of 
the  weakest  but  its  skin,  slit  along  the  belly !  Buffon 
accuses  Moles  of  eating  all  the  acorns  of  a  newly-set 
soil.  Its  voracity  makes  the  Mole  a  great  drinker  : 
a  run  is  always  formed  to  a  pond  or  ditch  as  a 
reservoir ;  when  it  is  too  distant,  the  animal  sinks 
little  wells,  which  have  sometimes  been  seen 
brimfull. 

We  now  return  to  Le  Court's  experiments  with 
Moles,  which  are  very  interesting.  To  afford  proof 
of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  Mole  will  travel 
along  its  passages,  Le  Court  watched  his  oppor- 
tunity, and  when  the  animal  was  on  its  feed  at  one 
of  the  most  distant  points  from  its  sanctuary  or 
fortress,  to  which  point  the  Mole's  high  road  leads, 
Le  Court  placed  along  the  course  of  that  road, 
between  the  animal  and  the  fortress,  several  little 
camp  colours,  so  to  speak,  the  staff  of  each  being  a 
straw,  and  the  flag  a  bit  of  paper,  at  certain  dis- 
tances, the  straws  penetrating  down  into  the  pas- 
sage. Near  the  end  of  this  subterraneous  road  he 


66  THE    MOLE    AT   HOME. 

inserted  a  horn,  the  mouthpiece  of  which  stood  out 
of  the  ground.  When  all  was  ready,  Le  Court  blew 
a  blast  loud  enough  to  frighten  all  the  Moles  within 
hearing.  Down  went  the  little  flags  in  succession 
with  astonishing  velocity,  as  the  terrified  Mole, 
rushing  along  towards  his  sanctuary,  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  flag-straws ;  and  the  spectators  affirmed 
that  the  Mole's  swiftness  was  equal  to  the  speed  of 
a  horse  at  a  good  round  trot. 

To  test  its  amount  of  vision,  Le  Court  took  a 
spare  water-pipe,  or  gutter,  open  at  both  ends. 
Into  this  pipe  he  introduced  several  Moles  succes- 
sively. Geoffrey  St.  Hilaire  stood  by  to  watch  the 
result  at  the  further  end  of  the  tube.  As  long  as 
the  spectators  stood  motionless  the  introduced  Mole 
made  the  best  of  his  way  through  the  pipe  and 
escaped ;  but  if  they  moved,  or  even  raised  a  finger, 
the  Mole  stopped,  and  then  retreated.  Several  repe- 
titions of  this  experiment  produced  the  same  results. 

In  the  domain  of  the  Mole,  the  principal  point  is 
the  habitation,  or  fortress,  constructed  under  a  con- 
siderable hillock  raised  in  some  secure  place,  often 
at  the  root  of  a  tree,  or  under  a  bank.  The  dome 
of  the  fortress  is  of  earth,  beaten  by  the  Mole- 
architect  into  a  compact  and  solid  state.  Inside  is 
formed  a  circular  gallery  at  the  base,  which  commu- 
nicates with  a  smaller  upper  gallery  by  means  of 
five  passages.  "Within  the  lower  gallery  is  the 
chamber  or  dormitory,  which  has  access  to  the  upper 
gallery  by  three  passages.  From  this  habitation 
extends  the  high  road  by  which  the  proprietor 


THE    MOLE    AT    HOME.  67 

reaches  the  opposite  end  of  the  encampment ;  the 
galleries  open  into  this  road,  which  the  Mole  is 
continually  carrying  out  and  extending  in  his  search 
for  food ;  this  has  been  termed  the  hunting-ground. 
Another  road  extends,  first  downwards,  and  then 
up  into  the  open  road  of  the  territory.  Some  eight 
or  nine  other  passages  open  out  from  the  external 
circular  gallery.  From  the  habitation  a  road  is 
carried  out,  nearly  straight,  and  connected  with  the 
encampment  and  the  alleys  leading  to  the  hunting- 
ground  which  open  into  it  on  each  side.  In  diameter 
the  road  exceeds  the  body  of  a  Mole,  but  its  size 
will  not  admit  of  two  Moles  passing  each  other. 
The  walls,  from  the  repeated  pressure  of  the  animal's 
sides,  become  smooth  and  compact.  Sometimes  a 
Mole  will  lay  out  a  second  or  even  a  third  road ;  or 
several  individuals  use  one  road  in  common,  though 
they  never  trespass  on  each  other's  hunting-grounds. 
If  two  Moles  should  happen  to  meet  in  the  same 
road,  one  must  retreat  into  the  nearest  alley,  unless 
they  fight,  when  the  weakest  is  often  slain.  In 
forming  this  tunnel  the  Mole's  instinct  drives  it  at  a 
greater  or  less  depth,  according  to  the  quality  of 
the  soil,  or  other  circumstances.  When  it  is  carried 
under  a  road  or  stream,  a  foot  and  a-half  of  earth, 
or  sometimes  more,  is  left  above  it.  Then  does  the 
little  engineering  Mole  carry  on  the  subterraneous 
works  necessary  for  his  support,  travelling,  and 
comfort ;  and  his  tunnels  never  fall  in.  The  quality 
or  humidity  of  the  soils  which  regulates  the  abund- 
ance of  earth-worms,  determines  the  greater  or  less 
E  2 


68  THE    MOLE    AT   HOME. 

depth  of  the  alleys ;  and  when  these  are  filled  with 
stores  of  food  the  Mole  works  out  branch  alleys. 

The  main  road  communicating  with  the  hunting- 
grounds  is  of  necessity  passed  through  in  the  course 
of  the  day ;  and  here  the  mole-catcher  sets  his  traps 
to  intercept  the  Mole  between  his  habitation  and  the 
alley  where  he  is  carrying  on  his  labours.  Some 
mole-catchers  will  tell  you  the  hours  when  the  Moles 
move  are  nine  and  four;  others  that  near  the 
coast  their  movements  are  influenced  by  the  tides. 
Besides  the  various  traps  which  are  set  for  Moles, 
they  are  sometimes  taken  by  a  man  and  a  dog; 
when  the  latter  indicates  the  presence  of  a  Mole, 
the  man  spears  the  animal  out  as  it  moves  in  its 
run.  Pointers  will  stop  as  steadily  as  at  game,  at 
the  Moles,  when  they  are  straying  on  the  surface. 

The  Mole  is  a  most  voracious  animal.  Earth- 
worms and  the  larvae  of  insects  are  its  favourite 
food ;  and  it  will  eat  mice,  lizards,  frogs,  and  even 
birds;  but  it  rejects  toads,  even  when  pressed  by 
hunger,  deterred,  probably,  by  the  acrid  secretions 
of  their  skin.  Moles  are  essentially  carnivorous ;  and 
when  fed  abundantly  on  vegetable  substances  they 
have  died  of  hunger. 

During  the  season  of  love,  at  which  time  fierce 
battles  are  fought  between  the  males,  the  male 
pursues  the  female  with  ardour  through  numerous 
runs  wrought  out  with  great  rapidity.  The  attach- 
ment appears  to  be  very  strong  in  the  Moles.  Le 
Court  often  found  a  female  taken  in  his  trap  and  a 
male  lying  dead  close  to  her.  From  four  to  five  is 


THE   MOLE   AT   HOME.  69 

the  general  number  of  young.  The  nest  is  distinct, 
usually  distant  from  the  habitation.  It  is  con- 
structed by  enlarging  and  excavating  the  point 
where  three  or  four  passages  intersect  each  other; 
and  the  bed  of  the  nest  is  formed  of  a  mass  of 
young  grass,  root  fibres,  and  herbage.  In  one  nest 
Geoffrey  St.  Hilaire  and  Le  Court  counted  two 
hundred  and  four  young  wheat-blades. 

M.  St.  Hilaire  describes  the  pairings,  or  as  he 
calls  it,  "  the  loves  of  the  Moles."  As  soon  as  the 
Mole  has  finished  the  galleries  he  brings  his  mate 
along  with  him,  and  shuts  her  up  in  the  bridal 
gallery,  taking  care  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  his 
rivals :  in  case  of  a  fight  they  enlarge  the  part  of 
the  gallery  where  they  are  met ;  and  the  victory  is 
decided  in  favour  of  him  who  first  wounds  his 
adversary  before  the  ear.  The  female,  during  the 
fight,  is  shut  up  in  the  bridal  gallery,  so  as  to  be 
unable  to  escape ;  for  which  purpose,  however,  she 
uses  all  her  resources  in  digging,  and  attempts  to 
get  away  by  the  side  passages.  Should  she  succeed 
the  conqueror  hastens  to  rejoin  his  faithless  mate, 
and  to  bring  her  back  into  his  galleries.  This 
manoeuvre  is  repeated  as  often  as  other  males  enter 
the  lists.  At  length  the  conqueror  is  recognised, 
and  his  mate  becomes  more  docile.  The  pair  work 
together  and  finish  the  galleries ;  after  which  the 
female  digs  alone  for  food.  As  soon  as  the  galleries 
are  formed,  the  male  conducts  his  mate  to  a  certain 
point,  and  from  this  time  the  female  no  longer  digs 
in  the  solid  earth,  but  towards  the  surface,  advancing 
by  merely  separating  the  roots  of  the  grass. 


70  THE    MOLE    AT    HOME. 

The  Mole  is  a  great  friend  to  the  farmer;  but 
there  are  places  in  which  he  is  a  public  enemy.  He 
is  not  a  vegetable  feeder,  and  he  never  roots  up  the 
growing  corn  in  spring-time,  except  when  he  is 
after  grubs,  snails,  and  wire-worms.  It  has  been 
calculated  that  two  Moles  destroy  20,000  white 
worms  in  a  year.  He  is  very  destructive  to  under 
drains ;  and  where  the  land  is  low  we  are  in  danger 
of  a  deluge  from  his  piercing  holes  in  the  drain- 
banks.  Thus  it  would  be  madness  not  to  extirpate 
Moles  in  those  places  where  the  waters,  in  drains 
or  rivers,  are  above  the  level  of  the  lands  around, 
especially  when  the  banks  are  made  of  sand  or  earth 
of  loose  texture. 

The  persecution  of  Moles  in  cultivated  countries 
amounts  almost  to  a  war  of  extermination.  The 
numbers  annually  slaughtered  are  enormous.  A 
mole-catcher,  who  had  followed  the  craft  for  thirty- 
five  years,  destroyed  from  forty  to  fifty  thousand 
Moles.  But  all  Mole  exterminators  must  yield  to 
Le  Court,  who,  in  no  large  district,  took,  in  five 
months,  six  thousand  of  them.  Moles  are  good 
swimmers,  and  their  bite  is  very  sharp ;  their  attacks 
are  ferocious,  and  they  keep  their  hold  like  a  bull-dog. 

The  Shrew  Mole  of  North  America  resembles  the 
European  Mole  in  its  habits.  Dr.  Goodman  describes 
it  as  most  active  early  in  the  morning,  at  mid-day, 
and  in  the  evening ;  and  they  are  well  known  in  the 
country  to  have  the  custom  of  coming  daily  to  the 
surface  exactly  at  noon.  We  read  of  a  captive 
Shrew  Mole  which  ate  meat,  cooked  or  raw,  drank 
freely,  and  was  lively  and  playful,  following  the 


THE    MOLE    AT    HOME.  71 

i 

hand  of  Ms  feeder  by  the  scent,  burrowing  for  a 
short  distance  in  the  loose  earth,  and  after  making  a 
small  circle,  returning  for  more  food.  In  eating  he 
employed  his  flexible  snout  to  thrust  the  food  into 
his  mouth,  doubling  it  so  as  to  force  it  directly 
backwards,  as  described  in  Dr.  Richardson's  "  North 
American  Zoology." 

James  Hogg,  the  Ettrick  Shepherd,  remarks,  in 
his  usual  impressive  manner  : — "The  most  unnatural 
persecution  that  ever  was  raised  in  a  country  is  that 
against  the  Mole — that  innocent  and  blessed  little 
pioneer,  who  enriches  our  pastures  annually  with  the 
first  top-dressing,  dug  with  great  pains  and  labour 
from  the  fattest  of  the  soil  beneath.  The  advantages 
of  this  top-dressing  are  so  apparent  that  it  is  really 
amazing  how  our  countrymen  should  have  persisted, 
for  nearly  half  a  century,  in  the  most  manly  and 
valiant  endeavours  to  exterminate  the  Moles  !  If  a 
hundred  men  and  horses  were  employed  on  a  pasture 
farm  of  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  acres, 
in  raising  and  driving  manure  for  a  top-dressing  of 
that  farm,  they  would  not  do  it  so  effectually,  so 
neatly,  or  so  equally  as  the  natural  number  of  Moles. 
In  June,  July,  and  August,  the  Mole-hills  are  all 
spread  by  the  crows  and  lambs — the  former  for 
food,  and  the  latter  in  the  evenings  of  warm  days 
after  a  drought  has  set  in.  The  late  Duke  of  Buc- 
cleuch  was  the  first  who  introduced  Mole-catching 
into  Scotland." 


THE  GEEAT  ANT-BEAK. 


FINE  living  specimen  of  this  comparatively 
rare  animal  was  first  exhibited  in  the  Zo- 
ological Society's  gardens,  in  the  Regent' s- 
park,  1853.  It  is  stated  to  be  the  first  specimen 
brought  alive  to  England,  and  accordingly  excited 
considerable  attention.  It  was  one  of  a  pair,  cap- 
tured near  the  Rio  Negro,  in  the  southern  province 
of  Brazil,  and  shipped  for  England  by  some  German 
travellers.  The  male  died  on  the  voyage;  the 
female  arrived  in  London  in  1853,  and  was  exhibited 
in  Broad-street,  St.  Giles's,  until  purchased  by  the 
Zoological  Society  for  the  sum  of  20 01.  The  advant- 
age of  this  live  specimen  to  naturalists  has  been 
very  great.  Hitherto  the  examples  engraved  by 
Buffon  and  Shaw  were  both  derived  from  stuffed 
specimens,  and  had  the  inevitable  defects  and  short- 
comings of  such.  Sir  John  Talbot  Dillon,  in  his 
"  Travels  through  Spain/'  published  in  1780,  states 
that  a  specimen  of  the  Ant-Bear,  from  Buenos 
Ayres,  was  alive  at  Madrid  in  1776  :  it  is  now 


THE   GREAT   ANT-BEAR.  73 

stuffed  and  preserved  in  the  Royal  Cabinet  of 
Natural  History  at  Madrid.  The  persons  who 
brought  it  from  Buenos  Ayres  say  it  differs  from  the 
Ant-eater,  which  only  feeds  on  emmets  and  other 
insects,  whereas  this  would  eat  flesh,  when  cut  in 
small  pieces,  to  the  amount  of  four  or  five  pounds. 
From  the  snout  to  the  extremity  of  the  tail  this 
animal  is  two  yards  in  length,  and  his  height  is 
about  two  feet ;  the  head  very  narrow,  the  nose 
long  and  slender.  The  tongue  is  so  singular  that  it 
looks  like  a  worm,  and  extends  above  sixteen  inches. 
The  body  is  covered  with  long  hair  of  a  dark  brown, 
with  white  stripes  on  the  shoulders ;  and  when  he 
sleeps,  he  covers  his  body  with  his  tail.  This 
account,  it  will  be  seen  hereafter,  corresponds  very 
accurately  with  that  of  the  animal  purchased  by  the 
Zoological  Society. 

Mr.  Wallace,  who  travelled  on  the  Amazon  and 
Bio  Negro,  about  the  year  1853,  relates  : — "  The 
living  specimen  of  this  singular  animal  is  a  great 
rarity,  even  in  its  native  country.  In  fact,  there  is 
not  a  city  in  Brazil  where  it  would  not  be  considered 
almost  as  much  a  curiosity  as  it  is  here.  In  the 
extensive  forests  of  the  Amazon  the  great  Ant-eater 
is,  perhaps,  as  abundant  as  in  any  part  of  South 
America;  yet,  during  a  residence  there  of  more 
than  four  years,  I  never  had  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  one.  Once  only  I  was  nearly  in  at  the  death, 
finding  a  bunch  of  hairs  from  the  tail  of  a  specimen 
which  had  been  killed  (and  eaten)  a  month  previous 
to  my  arrival,  at  a  village  near  the  Capiquiare.  In 


74  THE    GREAT   ANT-BEAR. 

its  native  forests  the  creature  feeds  almost  entirely 
on  white  ants,  tearing  open  their  nests  with  its 
powerful  claws,  and  thrusting  in  its  long  and  slender 
tongue,  which,  being  probably  mistaken  for  a  worm, 
is  immediately  seized  by  scores  of  the  inhabitants, 
who  thus  become  an  easy  prey.  The  Indians,  who 
also  eat  white  ants,  catch  them  in  a  somewhat 
similar  manner,  by  pushing  into  the  nest  a  grass- 
stalk,  which  the  insects  seize  and  hold  on  to  most 
tenaciously.  It  may  easily  be  conceived  that  such 
an  animal  must  range  over  a  considerable  extent  of 
country  to  obtain  a  plentiful  supply  of  such  food, 
which  circumstance,  as  well  as  its  extreme  shyness 
and  timidity,  causes  it  to  be  but  rarely  met  with, 
and  still  more  rarely  obtained  alive." 

"We  have  seen  that  the  Ant-Bear  lives  exclu- 
sively upon  ants,  to  procure  which  he  tears 
open  the  hills,  and  when  the  ants  flock  out  to 
defend  their  dwellings,  draws  over  them  his 
long,  flexible  tongue,  covered  with  glutinous 
saliva,  to  which  the  ants  consequently  adhere; 
and  he  is  said  to  repeat  this  operation  twice  in 
a  second.  "  It  seems  almost  incredible,"  says 
Azara,  "  that  so  robust  and  powerful  an  animal  can 
procure  sufficient  sustenance  from  ants  alone ;  but 
this  circumstance  has  nothing  strange  in  it,  for 
those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  tropical  parts  of 
America,  and  have  seen  the  enormous  multitude  of 
these  insects,  which  swarm  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
to  that  degree  that  their  hills  often  almost  touch 
one  another  for  miles  together."  The  same  author 


THE    GREAT   ANT-BEAR.  75 

informs  us  that  domestic  Ant-Bears  were  occasionally 
kept  by  different  persons  in  Paraguay,  and  that  they 
had  even  been  sent  alive  to  Spain,  being  fed  upon 
bread-and-milk  mixed  with  morsels  of  flesh  minced 
very  small.  Like  all  animals  which  live  upon  insects, 
the  Ant-eaters  are  capable  of  sustaining  a  total 
deprivation  of  nourishment  for  an  almost  incredible 
time. 

The  Great  Ant-Bear's  favourite  resorts  are  low, 
swampy  savannahs,  along  the  banks  of  rivers  and 
stagnant  ponds ;  also  frequenting  humid  forests, 
but  never  climbing  trees,  as  falsely  reported  by 
Buffon.  His  pace  is  slow  and  heavy,  though,  when 
hard  pressed,  he  increases  his  rate,  yet  his  greatest 
velocity  never  half  equals  the  ordinary  running  of  a 
man.  When  pressed  too  hard,  or  urged  to  extremity, 
he  turns  obstinate,  sits  upon  his  hind-quarters 
like  a  bear,  and  defends  himself  with  his  powerful 
claws.  Like  that  animal,  his  usual  and  only  mode 
of  assault  is  by  seizing  his  adversary  with  his  fore- 
paws,  wrapping  his  arms  round  him,  and  endeavour- 
ing, by  this  means,  to  squeeze  him  to  death.  His 
great  strength  and  powerful  muscles  would  easily 
enable  him  to  accomplish  his  purpose  in  this  respect, 
even  against  the  largest  animals  of  his  native  forests, 
were  it  but  guided  by  ordinary  intelligence,  or 
accompanied  with  a  common  degree  of  activity ;  but 
in  these  quali ties  there  are  few  animals  indeed  who 
do  not  greatly  surpass  the  Ant-Bear;  so  that  the 
different  stories  handed  down  by  writers  on  natural 
history  from  one  to  another,  and  copied,  without 


76  THE    GREAT   ANT-BEAR. 

question,  into  the  histories  and  descriptions  of  this 
animal,  may  be  regarded  as  pure  fictions.  "It  is 
supposed,"  says  Don  Felix  d'Azara,  "that  the 
jaguar  himself  dares  not  attack  the  Ant-Bear,  and 
that,  if  pressed  by  hunger,  or  under  some  other 
strong  excitement,  he  does  so,  the  Ant-Bear  em- 
braces and  hugs  him  so  tightly  as  very  soon  to 
deprive  him  of  life,  not  even  relaxing  his  hold  for 
hours  after  life  has  been  extinguished  in  his  assailant. 
Such  is  the  manner  in  which  the  Ant-eater  defends 
himself;  but  it  is  not  to  be  believed  that  his  utmost 
efforts  could  prevail  against  the  jaguar,  who,  by  a 
single  bite,  or  blow  of  his  paw,  could  kill  the  Ant- 
eater  before  he  was  prepared  for  resistance,  so  slow 
are  his  motions,  even  in  an  extreme  case ;  and, 
being  unable  to  leap  or  turn  with  ordinary  rapidity, 
he  is  forced  to  act  solely  upon  the  defensive.  The 
flesh  of  the  Ant-eater  is  esteemed  a  delicacy  by  the 
Indians  ;  and,  though  black,  and  of  a  strong  musky 
flavour,  is  sometimes  even  met  with  at  the  tables  of 
Europeans." 

The  habits  of  the  Great  Ant-Bear  in  captivity 
have  been  described  scientifically  yet  popularly,  from 
the  Zoological  Society's  specimen,  by  Professor 
Owen,  who  writes  : — "  When  we  were  introduced 
to  this,  the  latest  novelty  at  the  noble  vivarium  in 
the  Regent 's-park,  we  found  the  animal  busy  sucking 
and  licking  up— for  his  feeding  is  a  combination  of 
the  two  actions — the  contents  of  a  basin  of  squashed 
eggs.  The  singularly  long  and  slender  head,  which 
looks  more  like  a  slightly  bent  proboscis,  or  some 


THE    GREAT   ANT-BEAR.  77 

such  appendage  to  a  head,  was  buried  in  the  basin, 
and  the  end  of  the  lithe  or  flexible  tongue,  like  a 
rat's  tail,  or  a  writhing  black  worm,  was  ever  and 
anon  seen  coiling  up  the  sides  of  the  basin,  as  it  was 
rapidly  protruded  and  withdrawn.  The  yellow  yolk 
was  dripping  with  the  abundant  ropy  saliva  secreted 
during  the  feeding  process  from  the  exceedingly 
small  terminal  mouth;  for  the  jaws  are  not  slit 
open,  as  in  the  ordinary  construction  of  the  mouths 
of  quadrupeds,  and  the  head,  viewed  sideways,  seems 
devoid  of  mouth  ;  but  this  important  aperture  —by 
some  deemed  the  essential  character  of  an  animal — 
is  a  small  orifice  or  slit  at  the  end  of  the  tubular 
muzzle,  just  being  enough,  apparently,  to  let  the 
vermiform  tongue  slip  easily  in  and  out.  The  tongue, 
the  keeper  told  us,  was  sometimes  protruded  as  far 
as  fourteen  inches  from  the  mouth." 

By  the  Qjuarani  Indians  the  beast  is  known  by  a 
name  which  is,  in  Spanish,  "  little  mouth."  The 
Portuguese  and  Spanish  peons  call  it  by  a  name 
equivalent  to  "  Ant-Bear. "  In  the  Zoological  Cata- 
logue the  animal  is  denominated  Myrmocophaga 
jubata,  or  the  "  Maned  Ant-eater."  This  appellation 
would  very  well  suit  the  animal  if,  as  most  spectators 
commonly  imagine  at  first  sight,  its  head  was  where 
its  tail  is,  for  the  tail  is  that  part  of  the  animal  on 
which  the  hair  is  most  developed,  after  the  fashion 
of  a  mane;  whilst  the  actual  head  appears  much 
more  like  a  tail,  of  a  slender,  almost  naked,  stiff, 
rounded  kind.  The  body  is  wholly  covered  by  long, 
coarse  hair,  resembling  hay,  rapidly  lengthening 


78  THE    GREAT    ANT-BEAR. 

from  the  neck  backwards  to  six  or  eight  inches,  and 
extending  on  the  tail  from  ten  to  eighteen  inches. 
The  colour  is  greyish  brown,  with  an  oblique  black 
band,  bordered  with  white,  on  each  shoulder.  The 
animal  measures  about  four  feet  from  the  snout  to 
the  root  of  the  tail ;  and  the  tail,  three  feet  long, 
resembles  a  large  screen  of  coarse  hair.  When  the 
animal  lies  down,  it  bends  its  head  between  its  fore 
legs,  slides  these  forward,  and  crosses  them  in  front 
of  the  occiput,  sinks  its  haunches  by  bending  its 
hind  legs  and  bringing  them  close  to  the  fore  feet ; 
then,  leaning  against  the  wall  of  its  den,  on  one 
side,  it  lays  the  broad  tail  over  the  other  exposed 
side  of  the  body,  by  the  side  bend  of  that  part,  like 
the  movement  of  a  door  or  screen.  Nothing  is  now 
visible  of  the  animal  but  the  long  coarse  hair  of  its 
natural  and  portable  blanket.  When  it  is  enjoying 
its  siesta,  you  cannot  form  any  conception  of  its 
very  peculiar  shape  and  proportions ;  an  oblong 
heap  of  a  coarse,  dry,  greyish  thatch  is  all  that  is 
visible.  When,  however,  the  keeper  enters  the  den 
with  any  new  dainty,  as  cockroaches,  crickets,  mag- 
gots, or  mealworms,  to  tempt  the  huge  insect- 
devourer,  the  quick-hearing  animal  unveils  its  form 
by  a  sweeping  movement  of  the  thatch  outwards, 
the  tail  that  supports  it  rotating,  as  if  joined  by  a 
kind  of  door-hinge  to  the  body ;  the  head  is  drawn 
out  from  between  the  fore  limbs;  the  limbs  are 
extended,  and  the  entire  figure  of  this  most  grotesque 
of  quadrupeds  stalks  forth.  The  limbs  are  short; 
the  fore  limbs  grow  rather  thicker  to  their  stumpy 


THE    GREAT   ANT-BEAR.  79 

ends,  which  look  as  if  the  feet  had  been  amputated. 
The  four  toes,  with  their  claws,  are  bent  inwards, 
and  are  of  very  unequal  length.  This  is  the  most 
singular  part  of  the  animal :  it  is  also  the  most 
formidable  member,  and,  indeed,  bears  the  sole 
weapon  of  defence  the  beast  possesses.  The  inner- 
most toe,  answering  to  the  thumb  on  the  fore  limb 
of  the  neighbouring  chimpanzee,  is  the  shortest.  A 
fifth  toe  seems  to  be  buried  in  the  outside  callosity, 
on  which  the  animal  rests  its  stumpy  feet  while 
walking.  At  the  back  part  of  the  sole,  or  palm,  of 
the  fore  foot,  is  a  second  large  callosity,  which  re- 
ceives the  point  of  the  great  claw  in  its  usual  state 
of  inward  inflection.  Against  this  callosity  the 
animal  presses  the  claw  when  it  seizes  any  object 
therewith ;  and  Azara,  as  we  have  seen,  avers  that 
nothing  can  make  the  Ant-Bear  relax  its  grasp  of 
an  object  so  seized. 

With  respect  to  the  jaguar  being  sometimes  found 
dead  in  the  grasp  of  the  Great  Ant-eater,  Professor 
Owen  observes  that  its  muscular  force  resembles  that 
of  the  cold-blooded  reptiles  in  the  force  and  endur- 
ance of  the  contractile  action ;  and,  like  the  reptiles, 
the  Sloths  and  Ant-Bears  can  endure  long  fasts. 

Woe  to  the  unlucky  or  heedless  aggressor  whose 
arm  or  leg  may  be  seized  by  the  Ant-Bear.  The 
strength  of  the  grasp  sometimes  breaks  the  bone. 
The  Ant-Bear  never  voluntarily  lets  go,  and  the 
limb  so  grasped  can  be  with  difficulty  extricated, 
even  after  the  animal  has  been  killed.  To  put  the 
beast,  however,  hors  de  combat,  no  other  weapon  is 


80  THE    GREAT    ANT-BEAR. 

needed  than  a  stout  stick.  "With  this/'  says  Azara, 
"  I  have  killed  many  by  dealing  them  blows  on  the 
head,  and  with  the  same  security  as  if  I  had  struck 
the  trunk  of  a  tree.  With  a  mouth  so  small,  and 
formed  as  already  described,  the  Ant-Bear  cannot 
bite ;  and,  if  it  could,  it  would  be  useless,  for  it  has 
no  teeth." 

"  Like  a  lawyer,"  says  Professor  Owen,  "  the 
tongue  is  the  chief  organ  by  which  this  animal 
obtains  its  livelihood  in  its  natural  habitat.  The 
warmer  latitudes  of  South  America,  to  which  part  of 
the  world  the  Ant-Bear  is  peculiar,  abound  in 
forests  and  luxuriant  vegetation  ;  the  insects  of  the 
ant  and  termite  tribes  that  subsist  on  wood,  recent 
or  decaying,  equally  abound.  With  one  link  in 
the  chain  of  organic  independencies  is  interlocked 
another ;  and  as  the  surplus  vegetation  sustains  the 
surplus  insect  population,  so  a  peculiar  form  of 
mammalian  life  finds  the  requisite  conditions  of 
existence  in  the  task  of  restraining  the  undue  multi- 
plication of  the  wood-consuming  insects." 

The  number  of  male  Ant-eaters  is  supposed  to  be 
considerably  smaller  than  that  of  the  females,  which 
circumstance  favours  the  inference  that  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  species,  like  those  of  the  edentata  in 
general,  is  determined  upon.* 

Large  as  the  Ant-Bear  is  in  comparison  with  the 

animals   on  which  it  naturally  feeds,  there  appear 

to  have  been  still  larger  Ant-Bears  in  the  old  times 

of  South  America.     Fossil  remains  of  nearly  allied 

*  Proceedings  of  the  Zoological  Society. 


THE    GREAT    ANT-BEAR.  81 

quadrupeds  have  been  detected  in  both  the  fresh- 
water deposits  and  bone-caves  of  the  post-pliocene 
period  in  Buenos  Ayres  and  Brazil. 

In  examining  the  fossil  remains  has  been  found 
evidence  that  the  nervous  matter  destined  to  put 
in  action  the  muscular  part  of  the  tongue  was  equal 
to  half  of  that  nervous  matter  which  influences  the 
whole  muscular  system  of  a  man.  No  other  known 
living  animal  offers  any  approximation  to  the 
peculiar  proportions  of  the  lingual  nerves  of  the 
fossil  animal  in  question  except  the  Great  Ant- 
eater  ;  but  the  size  of  the  animal  indicated  by  the 
fossil  was  three  times  that  of  our  Ant-eater.  For 
this  strange  monster,  thus  partially  restored  from 
the  ruins  of  a  former  world,  Professor  Owen  pro- 
poses the  name  of  Glossotherium,  which  signifies 
tongue-beast. 

Evidence  of  such  a  creature  has  been  given  by 
Dr.  Lund,  the  Danish  naturalist,  resident  in  Brazil : 
among  the  fossil  remains  here  (limestone  caves  of 
the  province  Minas)  he  discovered  traces  of  the 
Great  Ant-eater,  which,  however,  are  too  imperfect 
to  enable  us  to  determine  more  accurately  its  rela- 
tion to  existing  species.  The  fragments  indicate 
an  animal  the  size  of  an  ox !  Were  the  insect  prey 
of  these  antediluvian  Ant-eaters  correspondingly 
gigantic  ? 

Two  circumstances  very  remarkable  were  observed 
in  the  Zoological  Society's  Great  Ant-eater  :  the 
hinge-like  manner  in  which  the  animal  worked 
its  tail  when  it  had  laid  itself  down,  throw- 
s' 


82  THE    GREAT    ANT-BEAK. 

ing  it  over  the  whole  of  its  body  and  enveloping 
itself  completely ;  and  the  peculiar  vibratory  motion 
of  the  long  vermiform  tongue  when  protruded  from 
the  mouth  in  search  of  food.  The  tongue  is  not 
shot  forth  and  retracted,  like  that  of  the  chameleon, 
but  protruded  gradually,  vibrating  all  the  time, 
and  in  the  same  condition  withdrawn  into  the 
mouth. 

Another  species  of  Ant-eater  is  the  Tamandua, 
much  inferior  in  size  to  the  Great  Ant-Bear,  being 
scarcely  so  large  as  a  good  sized  cat,  whilst  the 
other  exceeds  the  largest  greyhound  in  length.  The 
Tamandua  inhabits  the  thick  primaeval  forests  of 
tropical  America,  and  is  never  found  on  the  ground, 
but  exclusively  in  trees,  where  it  lives  upon 
termites,  honey,  and,  according  to  A  zara,  even  bees, 
which  in  those  countries  form  iLjir  hives  among 
the  loftiest  branches  of  the  forest ;  and  having  no 
sting,  they  are  more  readily  despoiled  of  their 
honey  than  their  congeners  of  our  own  climate. 
When  about  to  sleep  it  hides  its  muzzle  in  the  fur 
of  its  breast,  falls  on  its  belly,  letting  its  fore-feet 
hang  down  on  each  side,  and  wrapping  the  whole 
tightly  round  with  its  tail.  The  female,  as  in  the 
Great  Ant-eater,  has  but  two  pectoral  mammae,  and 
produces  but  a  single  cub  at  a  birth,  which  she 
carries  about  with  her  on  her  shoulders  for  the 
first  three  or  four  months.  Tamandua  is  the  Por- 
tuguese name ;  the  French  and  English  call  it 
fourmiller  and  Little  Ant-Bear. 

The  latter  are  the  names  of  a  still  smaller  species, 


THE    GREAT    ANT-BEAR.  83 

which  does  not  exceed  the  size  of  the  European 
squirrel.  Its  native  country  is  Guayana  and  Brazil. 
It  is  called  in  Surinam  hissing-hand,  as  the  inhabit- 
ants pretend  it  will  never  eat,  at  least  when  caught, 
but  that  it  only  licks  its  paws  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  bear ;  that  all  trials  to  make  it  eat  have 
proved  in  vain,  and  that  it  soon  dies  in  confine- 
ment. Yon  Sack,  in  a  voyage  to  Surinam,  had 
two  of  these  Ant-eaters  which  would  not  eat  eggs, 
honey,  meat,  or  ants ;  but  when  a  wasps'-nest  was 
brought  they  pulled  out  the  nymphse  and  ate  them 
eagerly,  sitting  in  the  posture  of  a  squirrel.  Yon 
Sack  showed  this  phenomenon  to  many  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Surinam,  who  all  assured  him  that  it 
was  the  first  time  they  had  ever  known  that  species 
of  animal  to  take  any  nourishment. 

Yon  Sack  describes  his  Ant-eaters  as  often  sleep- 
ing all  the  day  long  curled  together,  and  fastened 
by  their  prehensile  tails  to  one  of  the  perches  of 
the  cage.  When  touched  they  raised  themselves 
on  their  hind-legs,  and  struck  with  their  fore-paws 
at  the  object  which  disturbed  them,  like  the  hammer 
of  a  clock  striking  a  bell,  with  both  paws  at  the 
same  time,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  force.  They 
never  attempted  to  run  away,  but  were  always 
ready  for  defence  when  attacked. 

The  discovery  of  the  true  nature  of  the  food  of 
this  species  is  particularly  desirable,  and  may  enable 
us  to  have  the  animal  brought  alive  to  this  country, 
a  thing  which  we  believe  has  not  been  attempted ; 
and  which,  if  attempted,  has  certainly  never  suc- 
F  2 


84  THE    GREAT    ANT-BEAU. 

ceeded.  To  procure  or  carry  ants  during  a  long 
sea- voyage  is  impracticable,  but  the  larvse  of  wasps 
can  be  obtained  in  any  quantity,  and  will  keep  for 
months ;  so  that  the  most  serious  difficulty  to  the 
introduction  of  the  little  Ant-eater  being  thus  re- 
moved, it  would  only  require  to  be  protected  from 
the  effects  of  a  colder  climate,  which  may  be  as  easily 
done  in  its  case  as  in  that  of  other  South  America 
mammalia. 

The  Porcupine  Ant-eater  of  New  Holland,  now 
very  uncommon  in  New  South  "Wales,  is  regarded, 
of  its  size,  the  strongest  quadruped  in  existence.  It 
burrows  readily.  Its  mode  of  eating  is  very  curious, 
the  tongue  being  used  sometimes  in  the  manner  of 
that  of  the  chameleon,  and  at  other  times  in  that  in 
which  a  mower  uses  his  scythe,  the  tongue  being 
curved  laterally,  and  the  food,  as  it  were,  swept 
into  the  mouth. 

The  original  Great  Ant-Bear,  received  at  the 
Gardens  of  the  Zoological  Society  on  the  29th  of 
September,  1853,  died  on  the  6th  of  July,  1854. 
There  are  now  two  of  these  animals  living  in  the 
Gardens,  one  of  which  is  a  remarkably  fine  specimen. 


CURIOSITIES  OF  BATS. 


ilTTESE  harmless  and  interesting  little  ani- 
mals have  not  only  furnished  objects  of 
superstitious  dread  to  the  ignorant,  but  have 
proved  to  the  poet  and  the  painter  a  fertile  source  of 
images  of  gloom  and  terror.  The  strange  combina- 
tion of  character  of  beast  and  bird,  which  they  were 
believed  to  possess,  is  supposed  to  have  given  to 
Virgil  the  idea  of  the  Harpies. 

Aristotle  says  but  little  about  the  Bat ;  and 
Pliny  is  considered  to  have  placed  it  among  the 
Birds,  none  of  which,  he  observes,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Bat,  have  teeth.  Again,  he  notices  it  as  the 
only  winged  animal  that  suckles  its  young,  and  re- 
marks on  its  embracing  its  two  little  ones,  and  flying 
about  with  them.  In  this  arrangement  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  older  of  the  more  modern  naturalists. 
Belon,  doubtingly,  places  it  at  the  end  of  the  Night- 
birds  ;  and  the  Bat,  Attaleph  (bird  of  darkness),  was 
one  of  the  unclean  animals  of  the  Hebrews  ;  and  in 
Deuteronomy  xxv.  18,  it  is  placed  among  the  for- 
bidden birds. 


86  CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS. 

Even  up  to  a  late  period  Bats  were  considered  as 
forming  a  link  between  quadrupeds  and  birds.  The 
common  language  of  our  own  ancestors,  however, 
indicates  a  much  nearer  approach  to  the  truth  in  the 
notions  entertained  by  the  people  than  can  be  found 
in  the  lucubrations  of  the  learned.  The  words  rerc- 
mouse  and  fliUermouse,  the  old  English  names  for  the 
Bat — the  former  derived  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 
"  araean,"  to  raise,  or  rear  up,  and  mus  ;  the  latter 
from  the  Belgic,  signifying  "  flying  or  flittering 
mouse," — show  that  in  their  minds  these  animals 
were  always  associated  with  the  idea  of  quadrupeds. 
The  first  of  these  terms  is  still  used  in  English 
heraldry;  though  it  may  have  ceased  to. belong  to 
the  language  of  the  country.  "  The  word  flitter- 
mouse,"  says  Mr.  Bell,  "  sometimes  corrupted  into 
flintymouse,  is  the  common  term  for  the  Bat  in  some 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  particularly  in  that  part  of 
the  county  of  Kent  in  which  the  language,  as  well  as 
the  aspect  and  names  of  the  inhabitants,  retain  more 
of  the  Saxon  character  than  will  be  found,  perhaps, 
in  any  other  part  of  England. 

Ben  Jonson  has — 

"  Once  a  Bat,  and  ever  a  Bat !  a  rere-mouse, 
And  bird  o'  twilight,  he  has  broken  thrice. 

•  •  • 

Come,  I  will  see  the  flicker-mouse,  my  fly." 

Play. — New  Inn. 

The  same  author  uses  flitter-mouse  also  : — 

"  And  giddy  flitter-mice,  with  leather  wings." 

Sad  Shepherd. 


CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS.  87 

Calmet  describes  the  Bat  as  an  animal  having  the 
body  of  a  mouse  and  the  wings  of  a  bird ;  but  he 
erroneously  adds,  "  It  never  grows  tame." 

Some  persons  are  surprised  at  Bats  being  classed 
by  naturalists,  not  with  birds,  but  quadrupeds.  They 
have,  in  fact,  no  other  claim  to  be  considered  as 
birds  than  that  of  their  being  able  to  suspend  and 
move  themselves  in  the  air,  like  some  species  of 
fish,  but  to  a  greater  degree.  They  suckle  their 
young,  are  covered  with  hair,  and  have  no  wings, 
but  arms  and  lengthened  fingers  or  toes  furnished 
with  a  membrane,  by  which  they  are  enabled  to  fly. 

Sir  Charles  Bell,  in  his  valuable  treatise  on  the 
"  Hand,"  considers  the  skeleton  of  the  Bat  as  one  of 
the  best  examples  of  the  moulding  of  the  bones  of 
the  extremity  to  correspond  with  the  condition  of 
the  animal.  Contemplating  this  extraordinary  ap- 
plication of  the  bones  of  the  extremity,  and  com- 
paring them  with  those  of  the  wing  of  a  bird,  we 
might  say  that  this  is  an  awkward  attempt — "a 
failure."  But,  before  giving  expression  to  such  an 
opinion,  we  must  understand  the  objects  required  in 
this  construction.  It  is  not  a  wing  intended  merely 
for  flight,  but  one  which,  while  it  raises  the  animal, 
is  capable  of  receiving  a  new  sensation,  or  sensations, 
in  that  exquisite  degree,  so  as  almost  to  constitute  a 
new  sense.  On  the  fine  web  of  the  Bat's  wing 
nerves  are  distributed,  which  enable  it  to  avoid  ob- 
jects in  its  flight  during  the  night,  when  both  eyes 
and  ears  fail.  Could  the  wing  of  a  bird,  covered 
with  feathers,  do  this.?  Here,  then,  we  have  another 


88  CURIOSITIES   OF    BATS. 

example  of  the  necessity  of  taking  every  circum- 
stance into  consideration  before  we  presume  to  criti- 
cise the  ways  of  nature.  It  is  a  lesson  of  humility. 
In  this  animal  the  bones  are  light  and  delicate ;  and 
whilst  they  are  all  marvellously  extended,  the  pha- 
langes of  the  fingers  are  elongated  so  as  hardly  to 
be  recognised,  obviously  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining 
a  membranous  web,  and  to  form  a  wing. 

In  1839  there  was  received  at  the  Surrey  Zoolo- 
gical Gardens,  from  Sumatra,  a  specimen  of  the 
Vampire  Bat.  This  was  a  young  male  ;  the  body  was 
black,  and  the  membranous  wing,  in  appearance, 
resembled  fine  black  kid.  He  was  rarely  seen  at  the 
bottom  of  his  cage,  but  suspended  himself  from  the 
roof  or  bars  of  the  cage,  head  downwards,  his  wings 
wrapped  round  his  body ;  when  spread,  these  wings 
extended  nearly  two  feet.  Although  this  specimen 
was  the  Yampire  Bat  to  which  so  many  bloodthirsty 
feats  have  been  attributed,  his  appearance  was  by  no 
means  ferocious ;  he  was  active,  yet  docile,  and  the 
only  peculiarity  to  favour  belief  in  his  blood-sucking 
propensity  was  his  long  pointed  tongue.  The 
species  has  popularly  been  accused  of  destroying, 
not  only  the  large  mammiferous  animals,  but  also 
men,  when  asleep,  by  sucking  their  blood.  "  The 
truth,"  says  Cuvier,  in  his  " Regne  Animal/'  "ap- 
pears to  be,  that  the  Yampire  inflicts  only  small 
wounds,  which  may,  probably,  become  inflammatory 
and  gangrenous  from  the  influence  of  climate. >J  In 
this  habit,  however,  may  have  originated  the  cele- 
brated Yampire  superstition.  Lord  Byron,  in  his 


CURIOSITIES   OF    BATS.  89 

beautiful  poem  of  "The  Giaour,"  thus  symbolises 
the  tortures  that  await  the  "  false  infidel : " — 
"  First,  on  earth  as  Vampire  sent, 

My  corse  shall  from  its  tomb  be  rent ; 

Then  ghastly  haunt  thy  native  place, 

And  suck  the  blood  of  all  thy  race  ; 

There,  from  thy  daughter,  sister,  wife, 

At  midnight  drain  the  stream  of  life ; 

Yet  loathe  the  banquet  which  perforce 

Must  feed  thy  livid  living  corse. 

Thy  victims,  ere  they  yet  expire, 

Shall  know  the  demon  for  their  sire, 

As  cursing  thee,  thou  cursing  them, 

Thy  flowers  are  withered  on  the  stem. 

But  one  that  for  thy  crime  must  fall, 

The  youngest,  most  beloved  of  all, 

Shall  bless  thee  with  a  fathers  name — 

That  word  shall  wrap  thy  heart  in  flame  ! 

Yet  must  thou  end  thy  task,  and  mark 

Her  cheek's  last  tinge,  her  eye's  last  spark, 

And  the  last  glassy  glance  must  view 

"Which  freezes  o'er  its  lifeless  blue  ; 

Then  with  unhallowed  hand  shall  tear 

The  tresses  of  her  yellow  hair, 

Of  which  in  life  a  lock,  when  shorn, 

Affection's  fondest  pledge  was  worn, 

But  now  is  borne  away  by  thee, 

Memorial  of  thine  agony  ! 

Wet  with  thine  one  best  blood  shall  drip 

Thy  gnashing  tooth  and  haggard  lip ; 

Then  stalking  to  thy  sullen  grave, 

Go,  and  with  Gouls  and  Afrits  rave  ; 

Till  there  in  horror  shrink  away 

From  spectre  more  accursed  than  they !" 

In  a  note,  the  noble  poet  tells  us  : — "  The  Yampire 
superstition  is  still  general  in  the  Levant."     Honest 


90  CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS. 

Tournefort  tells  a  long  story,  which  Mr.  Southey, 
in  the  notes  on  "  Thalaba,"  quotes,  about  these  Yar- 
doulacha,  as  he  calls  them.  "I  recollect  a  whole 
family  being  terrified  by  the  screams  of  a  child, 
which  they  imagined  must  proceed  from  such  a 
visitation.  The  Greeks  never  mention  the  word 
without  horror." 

Bishop  Heber  describes  the  Yampire  Bat  of  India 
as  a  very  harmless  creature,  entirely  different  from 
the  formidable  idea  entertained  of  it  in  England. 
"  It  only  eats  fruit  and  vegetables ;  indeed,  its  teeth 
are  not  indicative  of  carnivorous  habits ;  and  from 
blood  it  turns  away  when  offered  to  it.  During  the 
day-time  it  is,  of  course,  inert ;  but  at  night  it  is 
lively,  affectionate,  and  playful,  knows  its  keeper, 
but  has  no  objection  to  the  approach  and  touch  of 
others." 

Mr.  Westerton,  the  traveller,  when  speaking,  in 
his  "Wanderings,"  of  the  Yampire  of  South  America, 
says  : — "  There  are  two  species  in  Demerara,  both  of 
which  suck  living  animals ;  one  is  rather  larger 
than  the  common  Bats,  the  other  measures  above 
two  feet  from  wing  to  wing,  extended.  So  gently 
does  this  nocturnal  surgeon  draw  the  blood,  that 
instead  of  being  roused,  the  patient  is  lulled  into  a 
profound  sleep."  The  large  Yampire  sucks  men, 
commonly  attacking  the  toes ;  the  smaller  seems  to 
confine  itself  chiefly  to  birds. 

Captain  Stedman,  who  states  that  he  was  bitten 
by  a  Bat,  thus  describes  the  operation  : — "  Knowing 
by  instinct  that  the  person  they  intend  to  attack  is 


CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS.  91 

in  a  sound  slumber,  they  generally  alight  near  the 
feet,  where,  while  the  creature  continues  fanning 
with  its  enormous  wings,  which  keeps  one  cool,  he 
bites  a  piece  out  of  the  tip  of  the  great  toe,  so  very 
small  indeed  that  the  head  of  a  pin  would  scarcely 
be  received  into  the  wound,  which  is,  consequently, 
not  painful;  yet  through  this  orifice  he  continues 
to  suck  the  blood  until  he  is  obliged  to  disgorge. 
He  then  begins  again,  and  thus  continues  sucking 
and  disgorging  until  he  is  scarcely  able  to  fly ;  and 
the  sufferer  has  been  often  known  to  sleep  from  time 
into  eternity.  Having  applied  tobacco-ashes  as  the 
best  remedy,  and  washed  the  gore  from  myself  and 
my  hammock,  I  observed  several  small  heaps  of 
congealed  blood  all  round  the  place  where  I  had 
lain  upon  the  ground,  on  examining  which  the  sur- 
geon judged  that  I  had  lost  at  least  twelve  or  four- 
teen ounces  during  the  night." 

Lesson,  in  1827,  says : — "  The  single  American 
species  of  Bat  is  celebrated  by  the  fables  with  which 
they  have  accompanied  its  history.  That  Bats  suck 
the  blood  of  animals  as  well  as  the  juices  of  succu- 
lent fruits  zoologists  are  agreed.  The  rough  tongue 
of  one  genus  was,  I  suppose,  to  be  employed  for 
abrading  the  skin,  to  enable  the  animal  to  suck  the 
part  abraded;  but  zoologists  are  now  agreed  that 
the  supposition  is  groundless.  It  is  more  than 
probable  that  the  celebrated.  Yampire  superstition 
and  the  blood-sucking  qualities  attributed  to  the 
Bat  have  some  connection  with  each  other. 

Bat-fowling  is  mentioned  by  Shakspeare.    This  is 


92  CURIOSITIES   OF   BATS. 

the  mode  of  taking  Bats  in  the  night-time,  while 
they  are  at  roost,  upon  perches,  trees,  or  hedges. 
They  light  torches  or  straw,  and  then  beat  the 
bushes,  upon  which  the  Bats,  flying  to  the  flames, 
are  caught,  either  with  nets  or  otherwise. 

Bat-fowling,  or  Bat-folding,  is  effected  by  the  use 
of  a  net,  called  a  trammel-net,  and  is  practised  at 
night.  The  net  should  be  made  of  the  strongest  and 
finest  twine,  and  extended  between  two  poles  about 
ten  feet  high,  tapering  to  a  point  at  the  top,  and 
meeting  at  the  top  of  the  net.  The  larger  ends  are 
to  be  held  by  the  persons  who  take  the  management 
of  the  net,  and  who,  by  stretching  out  the  arms, 
keep  the  net  extended  to  the  utmost,  opposite  the 
hedge  in  which  the  Bats  or  birds  are  supposed  to 
be.  Another  of  the  party  carries  a  lantern  upon  a 
pole  at  a  short  distance  behind  the  centre  of  the  net. 
One  or  two  others  place  themselves  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  hedge,  and  by  beating  it  with  sticks  dis- 
turb the  Bats  or  birds,  which,  being  alarmed,  fly 
towards  the  light,  but  are  interrupted  in  their  flight 
by  the  net  which  is  immediately  folded  upon  them, 
often  fifteen  or  twenty  in  number.  This  sport  can- 
not be  followed  with  much  success  except  when  the 
night  is  very  dark,  or  until  very  late  in  the  autumn, 
when  the  trees,  having  lost  their  leaves,  the  Bats  or 
birds  are  driven  for  shelter  to  the  hollies,  yews,  hay- 
ricks, &c. 

We  remember  reading,  in  the  "Philosophical 
Magazine/'  in  1836,  a  curious  account  of  the  habits 
of  a  long-eared  Bat,  a  living  specimen  of  which  was 


CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS.  93 

given  to  the  children  of  Mr.  De  Carle  Sowerby,  the 
naturalist.  "We  constructed/'  says  Mr.  Sowerby, 
"  a  cage  for  him,  by  covering  a  box  with  gauze,  and 
making  a  round  hole  in  the  side,  fitted  with  a  phial 
cork.  When  he  was  awake,  we  fed  him  with  flies, 
introduced  through  this  hole,  and  thus  kept  him  for 
several  weeks.  The  animal  soon  became  familiar, 
and  immediately  a  fly  was  presented  alive  at  the 
hole,  he  would  run  or  fly  from  any  part  of  the  cage, 
and  seize  it  in  our  fingers ;  but  a  dead  or  quiet  fly 
he  would  never  touch.  At  other  times,  dozens  of 
flies  and  grasshoppers  were  left  in  his  cage,  and, 
waking  him  by  their  noise,  he  dexterously  caught 
them  as  they  hopped  or  flew  about,  but  uniformly 
disregarded  them  while  they  were  at  rest.  The 
cockroach,  hard  beetles,  and  caterpillars  he  refused. 
"As  we  became  still  more  familiar,  our  new 
friend  was  invited  to  join  in  our  evening  amuse- 
ments, to  which  he  contributed  his  full  share  by 
flitting  round  the  room,  at  times  settling  upon  our 
persons,  and  permitting  us  to  handle  and  caress 
him.  He  announced  his  being  awake  by  a  shrill 
chirp,  which  was  more  acute  than  that  of  the  cricket. 
Now  was  the  proper  time  for  feeding  him.  I  before 
stated  that  he  only  took  his  food  alive.  It  was 
observed  that  not  only  was  motion  necessary,  but 
that  generally  some  noise  on  the  part  of  the  fly  was 
required  to  induce  him  to  accept  it ;  and  this  fact 
was  soon  discovered  by  the  children,  who  were 
entertained  by  his  taking  flies  from  their  fingers  as 
he  flew  by  them,  before  he  was  bold  enough  to  settle 


94  CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS. 

upon  their  hands  to  devour  his  victims.  They 
quickly  improved  upon  this  discovery,  and,  by 
imitating  the  booming  of  a  bee,  induced  the  Bat, 
directed  by  the  sound,  to  settle  upon  their  faces, 
wrapping  his  wings  round  their  lips,  and  searching 
for  the  expected  fly.  We  observed  that,  if  he  took 
a  fly  while  on  the  wing,  he  frequently  settled  to 
masticate  it ;  and,  when  he  had  been  flying  about  a 
long  time,  he  would  rest  upon  a  curtain,  pricking 
his  ears,  and  turning  his  head  in  all  directions, 
when,  if  a  fly  were  made  to  buzz,  or  the  sound 
imitated,  he  would  proceed  directly  to  the  spot,  even 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  guided,  it  would 
appear,  entirely  by  the  ear.  Sometimes  he  took  his 
victim  in  his  mouth,  even  though  it  was  not  flying ; 
at  other  times  he  inclosed  it  in  his  wings,  with  which 
he  formed  a  kind  of  bag-net.  This  was  his  general 
plan  when  in  his  cage,  or  when  the  fly  was  held  in 
our  fingers,  or  between  our  lips." 

From  these  observations  Mr.  Sowerby  concludes 
that  many  of  the  movements  of  the  Bat  upon  the 
wing  are  directed  by  his  exquisite  sense  of  hearing. 
May  not  the  sensibility  of  this  organ  be  naturally 
greater  in  these  animals,  whose  organs  of  vision  are 
too  susceptible  to  bear  daylight,  when  those  organs, 
from  their  nature,  would  necessarily  be  of  most 
service? — such  as  the  cat,  who  hunts  by  the  ear, 
and  the  mole,  who,  feeding  in  the  dark  recesses  of 
his  subterranean  abode,  is  very  sensible  of  the 
approach  of  danger,  and  expert  in  avoiding  it.  In 
the  latter  case,  large  external  ears  are  not  required, 


CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS.  95 

because  sound  is  well  conveyed  by  solids,  and  along 
narrow  cavities.  In  the  cases  of  many  Bats,  and  of 
owls,  the  external  ears  are  remarkably  developed. 
Cats  combine  a  quickness  of  sight  with  acute  hearing. 
They  hunt  by  the  ear,  but  they  follow  their  prey  by 
the  eye.  Some  Bats  are  said  to  feed  upon  fruits : 
have  they  the  same  delicacy  of  hearing,  feeling,  &c., 
as  others  ? 

Mr.  Sowerby  has  further  described  the  singular 
mode  adopted  by  the  long-eared  Bat  in  capturing  his 
prey.  The  flying  apparatus  is  extended  from  the 
hind  legs  to  the  tail,  forming  a  large  bag  or  net, 
not  unlike  two  segments  of  an  umbrella,  the  legs 
and  tail  being  the  ribs.  The  Bat,  having  caught 
the  fly,  instead  of  eating  it  at  once,  generally  covers 
it  with  his  body,  and,  by  the  aid  of  his  arms,  &c., 
forces  it  into  his  bag.  He  then  puts  his  head  down 
under  his  body,  withdraws  the  fly  from  his  bag,  and 
leisurely  devours  it.  Mr.  Sowerby  once  saw  an 
unwary  bluebottle  walk  beneath  the  body  of  the 
apparently  sleeping  Bat  into  the  sensitive  bag,  in 
which  it  was  immediately  imprisoned.  White,  of 
Selborne,  speaking  of  a  tame  Bat,  alludes  to  the 
above  described  action,  which  he  compares  to  that 
of  a  beast  of  prey,  but  says  nothing  respecting  the 
bag.  Bell,  in  his  "  British  Quadrupeds,"  says  that 
the  interfemoral  membrane  of  Bats  "is  probably 
intended  to  act  as  a  sort  of  rudder,  in  rapidly 
changing  the  course  of  the  animal  in  the  pursuit  of 
its  insect  food.  In  a  large  group  of  foreign  Bats, 
which  feed  on  fruit  or  other  vegetable  substances,  as 


96  CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS. 

well  as  in  some  of  carnivorous  habits,  but  whose 
prey  is  of  a  less  active  character,  this  part  is  either 
wholly  wanting  or  much  circumscribed  in  extent 
and  power."  May  it  not  be,  asks  Mr.  Sowerby,  that 
they  do  not  require  an  entomological  bag-net  ? 

The  wing  of  the  Bat  is  commonly  spoken  of  as  of 
leather;  that  it  is  an  insensible  piece  of  stuff — the 
leather  of  a  glove  or  of  a  lady's  shoe ;  but  nothing 
can  be  further  from  the  truth.  If  one  were  to  select 
an  organ  of  the  most  exquisite  delicacy  and  sensi- 
bility, it  would  be  the  Bat's  wing.  It  is  anything 
but  leather,  and  is,  perhaps,  the  most  acute  organ 
of  touch  that  can  be  found. 

Bats  are  supposed  to  perceive  external  objects 
without  coming  actually  in  contact  with  them,  be- 
cause in  their  rapid  and  irregular  flight,  amidst 
various  surrounding  bodies,  they  never  fly  against 
them ;  yet,  to  some  naturalists,  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  senses  of  hearing,  seeing,  or  smelling  serve 
them  on  these  occasions,  for  they  avoid  any  obstacles 
with  equal  certainty  when  the  eye,  ear,  and  nose 
are  closed :  hence  has  been  ascribed  a  sixth  sense  to 
these  animals.  The  nerves  of  the  wing  are  large 
and  numerous,  and  distributed  in  a  minute  network 
between  the  integuments.  The  impulse  of  the  air 
against  this  part  may  possibly  be  so  modified  by  the 
objects  near  which  the  animal  passes  as  to  indicate 

•I 

their  situation  and  nature.  The  Bat  tribe  fly  by 
means  of  the  fingers  of  the  fore  feet,  the  thumb 
excepted,  being,  in  these  animals,  longer  than  the 
whole  body ;  and  between  them  is  stretched  a  thin 


CURIOSITIES   OF    BATS.  97 

membrane,  or  web,  for  flying.  It  is  probable  that, 
in  the  action  of  flight,  the  air,  when  struck  by  this 
wing,  or  very  sensitive  hand,  impresses  a  sensation 
of  heat,  cold,  mobility,  and  resistance  on  that  organ, 
which  indicates  to  the  animal  the  existence  or 
absence  of  obstacles  which  would  interrupt  its  pro- 
gress. In  this  manner  blind  men  discover  by  their 
hands,  and  even  by  the  skin  of  their  faces,  the 
proximity  of  a  wall,  door  of  a  house,  or  side  of  a 
street,  even  without  the  assistance  of  touch,  and 
merely  by  the  sensation  which  the  difference  in  the 
resistance  of  the  air  occasions.  Hence  they  are  as 
little  capable  of  walking  on  the  ground  as  apes  with 
their  hands,  or  sloths  with  their  hooked  claws,  which 
are  calculated  for  climbing. 

In  a  certain  kind  of  Bat,  the  Nycteris,  there 
exists  a  power  of  inflation  to  such  a  degree  that, 
when  inflated,  the  animal  looks,  according  to 
Geoffroy  St.  Hilaire,  like  a  little  balloon  fitted  with 
wings,  a  head,  and  feet.  It  is  filled  with  air  through 
the  cheek-pouches,  which  are  perforated  at  the 
bottom,  so  as  to  communicate  with  the  spaces  of  the 
skin  to  be  filled.  When  the  Bat  wishes  to  inflate,  it 
draws  in  its  breath,  closes  its  nostrils,  and  transmits 
the  air  through  the  perforations  of  the  cheek- 
pouches  to  the  spaces ;  and  the  air  is  prevented 
from  returning  by  the  action  of  a  muscle  which 
closes  those  openings,  and  by  valves  of  considerable 
size  on  the  neck  and  back. 

There  was  formerly  a  vulgar  opinion  that  Bats, 
when  down  on  a  flat  surface,  could  not  get  on  the 

G 


98  CURIOSITIES   OF    BATS. 

wing  again,  by  rising  with  great  ease  from  the  floor ; 
but  White  saw  a  Bat  run,  with  more  dispatch  than 
he  was  aware  of,  though  in  a  most  ridiculous  and 
grotesque  manner.  The  adroitness  with  which  this 
Bat  sheared  off  the  wings  of  flies,  which  were 
always  rejected,  was  very  amusing.  He  did  not 
refuse  raw  flesh  when  offered;  so  that  the  notion 
that  Bats  go  down  chimneys,  and  gnaw  men's  bacon, 
seems  no  improbable  story. 

Mr.  George  Daniell  describes  a  female  Bat,  who 
took  her  food  with  an  action  similar  to  that  of  a  dog. 
The  animal  took  considerable  pains  in  cleaning  her- 
self, parting  the  hair  on  either  side,  from  head  to 
tail,  and  forming  a  straight  line  along  the  middle  of 
the  back.  The  membrane  of  the  wings  was  cleaned 
by  forcing  the  nose  through  the  folds,  and  thereby 
expanding  them.  This  Bat  fed  freely,  and  at  some 
times  voiaciously,  the  quantity  exceeding  half  an 
ounce,  although  the  weight  of  the  animal  itself  was 
not  more  than  ten  drams. 

The  Kalong  Bat  of  the  Javanese  is  extremely 
abundant  in  the  lower  parts  of  Java,  and  uniformly 
lives  in  society.  The  more  elevated  districts  are  not 
visited  by  it.  "Numerous  individuals,"  says  Dr. 
Hornfield,  "  select  a  large  tree,  and,  suspending 
themselves  with  the  claws  of  their  posterior  ex- 
tremities to  the  naked  branches,  often  in  companies 
of  several  hundreds,  afford  to  a  stranger  a  very 
singular  spectacle.  A  species  of  ficus  (fig-tree), 
resembling  the  fans  religiosa  of  India,  affords  them 
a  very  favourite  retreat,  and  the  extended  branches 


CURIOSITIES    OF    BATS.  99 

of  one  of  these  are  sometimes  covered  by  them. 
They  pass  the  greater  portion  of  the  day  in  sleep, 
hanging  motionless,  ranged  in  succession,  with  the 
head  downwards,  the  membrane  contracted  about 
the  body,  and  often  in  close  contact.  They  have 
little  resemblance  to  living  beings  ;  and,  by  a  person 
not  accustomed  to  their  economy,  are  readily  mis- 
taken for  a  part  of  the  tree,  or  for  a  fruit  of 
uncommon  size  suspended  from  its  branches. 

In  general,  these  societies  are  silent  during  the 
day ;  but  if  they  are  disturbed,  or  a  contention  arises 
among  them,  they  emit  sharp,  piercing  shrieks ;  and 
their  awkward  attempts  to  extricate  themselves,  when 
oppressed  by  the  light  of  the  sun,  exliibit  a  ludicrous 
spectacle.  Soon  after  sunset  they  gradually  quit 
their  hold,  and  pursue  their  nocturnal  flight  in 
quest  of  food.  They  direct  their  course  by  an 
unerring  instinct  to  the  forests,  villages,  and  planta- 
tions, attacking  and  devouring  every  kind  of  fruit, 
from  the  abundant  and  useful  cocoa-nut,  which 
surrounds  the  dwellings  of  the  meanest  peasantry, 
to  the  rare  and  most  delicate  productions  which  are 
cultivated  by  princes  and  chiefs  of  distinction. 
Various  methods  are  employed  to  protect  the  orchards 
and  gardens.  Delicate  fruits  are  secured  by  a  loose 
net  or  basket,  skilfully  constructed  of  split  bamboo, 
without  which  precaution  little  valuable  fruit  would 
escape  the  ravages  of  the  Kalong.  There  are  few 
situations  in  the  lower  part  of  Java  in  which  this 
night  wanderer  is  not  constantly  observed.  As  soon 
as  the  light  of  the  sun  has  retired,  one  animal  is 
G  2 


100  CURIOSITIES   OF    BATS. 

seen  to  follow  the  other  at  a  small  but  irregular 
distance,  and  this  accession  continues  uninterrupted 
till  dark  :— 

"  The  night  came  on  apace, 
And  falling  dews  bewet  around  the  place  ; 
The  bat  takes  airy  rounds,  on  leathern  wings, 
And  the  hoarse  owl  his  woful  dirges  sings." 

Gay's  "Pastoral  III." 

Bats  of  the  ordinary  size  are  very  numerous  in 
Jamaica.  They  are  found  in  mills  and  old  houses. 
They  do  great  mischief  in  gardens,  where  they  eat 
the  green  peas,  opening  the  pod  over  each  pea, 
and  removing  it  very  dexterously. 

Gilbert  White)  of  Selborne,  first  noticed  a  large 
species  of  Bat,  which  he  named  altivolans,  from  its 
manner  of  feeding  high  in  the  air.  In  the  extent 
of  its  wings  it  measured  14 J  inches  ;  and  it  weighed, 
when  entirely  full,  one  ounce  and  one  drachm.  It 
is  found  in  numbers  together,  so  many  as  185 
having  been  taken  in  one  night  from  the  eaves  of 
Queens'  College,  Cambridge.  In  the  Northern  Zoo- 
logical Gallery  of  the  British  Museum  are  repre- 
sentatives of  the  several  species  of  Bats,  all  bearing 
a  family  resemblance  to  each  other.  In  England 
alone  there  are  eighteen  known  species.  Here  is  the 
curious  leaf-nosed  Bat,  from  Brazil,  supposed  to 
excel  in  the  sense  of  smell ;  also,  the  Yampire,  or 
large  blood-sucking  Bat,  from  the  same  country; 
and  the  different  kinds  of  fruit-eating  Bats,  found 
in  America  and  Australia,  and  sometimes  called 
flying  foxes,  on  account  of  their  great  size.  The 


CURIOSITIES   OF    BATS.  101 

Bats  of  temperate  climates  remain  torpid  during  the 
winter.     Gay  has  these  lines  : — 

"  Where  swallows  in  the  winter  season  keep  ; 
And  here  the  drowsy  bat  and  dormouse  sleep." 

Young  Bats  have  been  taken,  when  hovering  near 
the  ground,  by  throwing  handfuls  of  sand,  but  they 
rarely  live  in  confinement :  they  often  die  within  a 
week  after  their  capture.  A  Bat,  taken  in  Elgin, 
gave  birth  to  a  young  one,  which  was  for  two  days 
suckled  by  its  parent.  Before  she  reached  the  age  of 
three  days  the  young  bat  died,  and  the  parent  only 
survived  another  day  to  mourn  her  loss.  Sometimes 
females,  when  taken,  have  young  ones  clinging  to 
their  breast,  in  the  act  of  sucking ;  and  the  female 
can  fly  with  ease,  though  two  little  ones  are  attached 
to  her,  which  weigh  nearly  as  much  as  the  parent. 

To  return  to  an  exaggeration  of  a  famous  old 
traveller.  In  "  Purchas  his  Pilgrimage,"  the 
materials  for  which  he  borrowed  from  above  thir- 
teen hundred  authors,  when  speaking  of  the  island  of 
Madura,  in  the  South  of  India,  he  says  : — "  In  these 
partes  are  Battes  as  big  as  Hennes,  which  the  people 
roast  and  eat." 


THE  HEDGEHOG. 

|F  this  animal  some  strange  things  are  re- 
corded. It  is  placed  by  Cuvier  at  the  head 
of  the  insect-devouring  Mammifera.  It  is 
found  in  Europe,  Africa,  and  India.  Its  body  is 
covered  with  strong  and  sharp  prickles,  and  by  the 
help  of  a  muscle  it  can  contract  itself  into  a  ball, 
and  so  withdraw  its  whole  underpart,  head,  belly, 
and  legs,  within  this  thicket  of  prickles  : 

"  Like  Hedgehogs,  which 
Lie  tumbling  in  my  barefoot  way,  and  mount 
Their  pricks  at  my  foot-fall."— Shakspeare's  "  Tempest'' 

Sir  Thomas  Browne,  in  his  "Yulgar  Errors,"  has 
this  odd  conceit : — "  Few  have  belief  to  swallow,  or 
hope  enough  to  experience,  the  collyrium  of  Alber- 
tus ;  that  is,  to  make  one  see  in  the  dark :  yet  thus 
much,  according  to  his  receipts,  will  the  right  eye  of 
an  Hedgehog,  boiled  in  oil,  and  preserved  in  a  brazen 
vessel,  eifect." 

Hedgehog  was  an  old  term  of  reproach ;  but  we 
have  heard  a  well-set  argument  compared  to  a 
hedgehog — all  points. 


THE    HEDGEHOG.  103 

The  food  of  the  Hedgehog,  which  is  a  nocturnal 
animal,  consists  principally  of  insects,  worms,  slugs, 
and  snails.  That  it  will  eat  vegetables  is  shown  by 
White  of  Selborne,  who  relates  how  it  eats  the  root 
of  the  plantain  by  boring  beneath  it,  leaving  the  tuft 
of  leaves  untouched. 

The  Hedgehog  is  reputed  to  supply  itself  with  a 
winter  covering  of  leaves.  So  far  as  we  are  aware, 
it  has  not  been  observed  in  the  act  of  forming  the 
covering  of  leaves,  though  it  is  supposed  to  roll 
itself  about  till  its  spines  take  up  a  sufficient  number, 
in  the  same  way  as  it  is  popularly  believed  (without 
proof)  to  do  with  apples.  Blumenbach  states  that 
he  was  assured,  "  by  three  credible  witnesses,"  that 
Hedgehogs  so  gather  fruit ;  but  Buffon,  who  kept 
several  Hedgehogs  for  observation,  declares  they 
never  practise  any  such  habit. 

The  voracity  of  the  Hedgehog  is  very  great.  A 
female,  with  a  young  one,  was  placed  in  a  kitchen, 
having  the  run  of  the  beetles  at  night,  besides  having 
always  bread  and  milk  within  their  reach.  One  day, 
however,  the  servants  heard  a  mysterious  crunching 
sound  in  the  kitchen,  and  found,  on  examination, 
that  nothing  was  left  of  the  young  Hedgehog  but 
the  skin  and  prickles — the  mother  had  devoured 
her  little  pig !  A  Hedgehog  has  also  been  known 
to  eat  a  couple  of  rabbits  which  had  been  confined 
with  it,  and  killing  others;  it  has  likewise  been 
known  to  kill  hares. 

A  Hedgehog  was  placed  in  one  hamper,  a  wood- 
pigeon  in  another,  and  two  starlings  in  a  third ; 


104  THE    HEDGEHOG. 

the  lid  of  each  hamper  was  tied  down  with  string, 
and  the  hampers  were  placed  in  a  garden-house, 
which  was  fastened  in  the  evening.  Next  morning 
the  strings  to  the  hampers  were  found  severed,  the 
starlings  and  wood-pigeon  dead  and  eaten,  feathers 
alone  remaining  in  their  hampers,  and  the  Hedge- 
hog alive  in  the  wood-pigeon's  hamper.  As  no 
other  animal  could  have  got  into  the  garden-house 
it  was  concluded  that  the  Hedgehog  had  killed  and 
eaten  the  birds. 

In  the  "  Zoological  Journal,"  vol.  ii.,  is  an  account 
by  Mr.  Broderip  of  an  experiment  made  by  Professor 
Buckland  proving  that  in  captivity  at  least  the 
Hedgehog  will  devour  snakes ;  but  there  is  no  good 
reason  for  supposing  that  it  will  not  do  the  same  in 
a  state  of  nature,  for  frogs,  toads,  and  other  reptiles, 
and  mice,  have  been  recorded  as  its  prey.  From  its 
fondness  for  insects  it  is  often  placed  in  the  London 
kitchens  to  keep  down  the  swarm  of  cockroaches 
with  which  they  are  infested ;  and  there  are  gene- 
rally Hedgehogs  on  sale  at  Covent  Garden  Market 
for  this  purpose. 

The  idle  story  that  the  persecuted  Hedgehog 
sucks  cows  has  been  thus  quaintly  refuted  : — "  In 
the  case  of  an  animal  giving  suck,  the  teat  is  em- 
braced round  by  the  mouth  of  the  young  one,  so 
that  no  air  can  pass  between ;  a  vacuum  is  made, 
or  the  air  is  exhausted  from  its  throat,  by  a  power 
in  the  lungs ;  nevertheless  the  pressure  of  the  air 
remains  still  upon  the  outside  of  the  dug  of  the 
mother,  and  by  these  two  causes  together  the  milk 


THE   HEDGEHOG.  105 

is  forced  in  the  mouth  of  the  young  one.  But  a 
Hedgehog  has  no  such  mouth  as  to  be  able  to  con- 
tain the  teat  of  a  cow  ;  therefore  any  vacuum  which 
is  caused  in  its  own  throat  cannot  be  communicated 
to  the  milk  in  the  dug.  And  if  he  is  able  to  pro- 
cure no  other  food  but  what  he  can  get  by  sucking 
cows  in  the  night,  there  is  likely  to  be  a  vacuum  in 
his  stomach  too."  (New  Catalogue  of  Vulgar  Errors. 
By  Stephen  Fovargue,  A.M.,  1786.)  Yet,  according 
to  Sir  William  Jardine,  the  Hedgehog  is  very  fond 
of  eggs ;  and  is  consequently  very  mischievous  in 
the  game-preserve  and  hen-house. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  facts  in  the  natural 
history  of  the  Hedgehog  is  that  announced  in  1831 
by  M.  Lenz,  and  subsequently  confirmed  by  Pro- 
fessor Buckland :  this  is,  that  the  most  violent 
poisons  have  no  effect  upon  it ;  a  fact  which  renders 
it  of  peculiar  value  in  forests,  where  it  appears  to 
destroy  a  great  number  of  noxious  reptiles.  M. 
Lenz  says  that  he  had  in  his  house  a  female  Hedge- 
hog, which  he  kept  in  a  large  box,  and  which  soon 
became  very  mild  and  familiar.  He  often  put  into 
the  box  some  adders,  which  it  attacked  with  avidity, 
seizing  them  indifferently  by  the  head,  the  body, 
and  the  tail,  and  not  appearing  alarmed  or  em- 
barrassed when  they  coiled  themselves  around  its 
body.  On  one  occasion  M.  Lenz  witnessed  a  fight 
between  a  Hedgehog  and  a  viper.  When  the 
Hedgehog  came  near  and  smelled  the  snake,  for 
with  these  animals  the  sense  of  sight  is  very  obtuse, 
she  seized  it  by  the  head,  and  held  it  fast  between 


106  THE    HEDGEHOG. 

her  teeth,  but  without  appearing  to  do  it  much 
harm;  for  having  disengaged  its  head,  it  assumed 
a  furious  and  menacing  attitude,  and,  hissing  vehe- 
mently, inflicted  severe  bites  on  the  Hedgehog. 
The  animal  did  not,  however,  recoil  from  the  bites 
of  the  viper,  or  indeed  seem  to  care  much  about 
them.  At  last,  when  the  reptile  was  fatigued  by 
its  efforts,  she  again  seized  it  by  the  head,  which* 
she  ground  beneath  her  teeth,  compressing  the 
fangs  and  glands  of  poison,  and  then  devouring 
every  part  of  the  body.  M.  Lenz  says  that  battles 
of  this  sort  often  occurred  in  the  presence  of  many 
persons,  and  sometimes  the  Hedgehog  received  eight 
or  ten  wounds  on  the  ears,  the  snout,  and  even  on 
the  tongue,  without  seeming  to  experience  any  of 
the  ordinary  symptoms  produced  by  the  venom  of 
the  viper.  Neither  herself  nor  the  young  which 
she  was  then  suckling  seemed  to  suffer  from  it. 
This  observation  agrees  with  that  of  Pallas,  who 
assures  us  that  the  Hedgehog  can  eat  about  a 
hundred  Cantharides  (Spanish  Flies)  without  ex- 
periencing any  of  the  effects  which  this  insect, 
taken  inwardly,  produces  on  men,  dogs,  and  cats. 
A  German  physician,  who  made  the  Hedgehog  a 
particular  object  of  study,  gave  it  strong  doses  of 
prussic  acid,  of  arsenic,  of  opium,  and  of  corrosive 
sublimate,  none  of  which  did  it  any  harm.  The 
Hedgehog  in  its  natural  state  only  feeds  on  pears, 
apples,  and  other  fruits  when  it  can  get  nothing  it 
likes  better. 

The  Hedgehog  hybernates  regularly,  and  early  in 


THE    HEDGEHOG.  107 

the  summer  brings  forth  from  two  to  four  young 
ones  at  a  birth,  which,  at  the  time  of  their  produc- 
tion, are  blind,  and  have  the  spines  white,  soft,  and 
flexible.  The  nest  wherein  they  are  cradled  is  said 
to  be  very  artificially  constructed,  the  roof  being 
rain-proof. 

The  flesh  of  the  Hedgehog,  when  it  has  been 
well  fed,  is  sweet  and  well  flavoured,  and  is  eaten 
on  the  Continent  in  many  places.  In  Britain  a 
few  besides  gipsies  partake  of  it.  The  prickly 
skin  appears  to  have  been  used  by  the  Romans 
for  hackling  hemp. 

Gilbert  White  notes  that  when  the  Hedgehog  is 
very  young  it  can  draw  its  skin  down  over  its  face, 
but  is  not  able  to  contract  itself  into  a  ball,  as  the 
creature  does,  for  the  sake  of  defence  when  full 
grown.  The  reason,  White  supposes,  is  because 
the  curious  muscle  that  enables  the  Hedgehog  to 
roll  itself  up  into  a  ball  has  not  then  arrived  at  its 
full  tone  and  firmness.  Hedgehogs  conceal  them- 
selves for  the  winter  in  their  warm  hybernaculum 
of  leaves  and  moss ;  but  White  could  never  find 
that  they  stored  in  any  winter  provision,  as  some 
quadrupeds  certainly  do. 


THE  HIPPOPOTAMUS  IN  ENGLAND. 


the  year  1850  there  was  exhibited  in 
London  a  living  Hippopotamus,  for  many 
centuries  the  only  instance  of  this  extra- 
ordinary animal  being  seen  in  Europe. 

There  is  something  irresistibly  striking  in  seeing 
a  living  animal,  not  one  of  whose  species  we  have 
before  seen,  and  especially  when  that  animal  is  a 
large  one,  as  in  the  instance  before  us.  We  had 
been  wonderstruck  at  forms  of  this  creature  in  the 
old  British  Museum,  where  were  two  finely-pre- 
served specimens.  The  Rhinoceros  alive  was,  until 
of  late  years,  very  rare  in  England.  In  1834  Mr. 
Cross  paid  some  1,500 1.  for  a  young  Indian  one- 
homed  Rhinoceros,  this  being  the  only  one  brought 
to  England  for  twenty  years.  He  proved  attractive, 
but  slightly  so  in  comparison  with  the  expectation 
of  a  living  Hippopotamus,  never  witnessed  before 
in  this  country.  The  circumstances  of  his  acquisi- 
tion were  as  follows  : — 

The  Zoological  Society  of  London  had  long  been 


THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS   IN   ENGLAND.  109 

anxious  to  obtain  a  living  Hippopotamus  for  their 
menagerie,  but  without  success.  An  American 
agent  at  Alexandria  had  offered  5,000/.  for  an 
animal  of  this  species,  but  in  vain;  no  speculator 
could  be  induced  to  encounter  the  risk  and  labour 
of  an  expedition  to  the  White  Nile  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  the  animal.  The  desire  of  the  Zoological 
Society  was  communicated  to  the  Viceroy  of  Egypt, 
who  saw  the  difficulty.  Hasselquist  states  it  to  have 
been  impossible  to  bring  the  living  animal  to  Cairo  ; 
and  the  French  savam,  attached  to  the  expedition 
to  Egypt,  who  ascended  the  Nile  above  Syene,  did 
not  meet  with  one  Hippopotamus.  Caillaud,  how- 
ever, asserts  that  he  saw  forty  Hippopotami  in  the 
Upper  Nile,  though  their  resort  lay  fifteen  hundred 
miles  or  more  from  Cairo.  Here  they  were  often 
shot  with  rifle-balls,  but  to  take  one  alive  was 
another  matter.  However,  by  command  of  the 
Viceroy,  the  proper  parties  were  sent  in  search  of 
the  animal. 

In  August,  1849,  the  hunters  having  reached  the 
island  of  Fobaysch,  on  the  White  Nile,  about  2,000 
miles  above  Cairo,  shot  a  large  female  Hippopotamus 
in  full  chase  up  the  river.  The  wounded  creature 
turned  aside  and  made  towards  some  bushes  on  the 
island  bank,  but  sank  dead  in  the  effort.  The 
hunters,  however,  kept  on  towards  the  bushes, 
when  a  young  Hippopotamus,  supposed  to  have 
been  recently  brought  forth,  not  much  bigger  than 
a  new-born  calf,  but  stouter  and  lower,  rushed  down 


110  THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN   ENGLAND. 

the  bank  of  the  river,  was  secured  by  a  boatman 
and  lifted  into  the  boat.  The  captors  started  with 
their  charge  down  the  Nile.  The  food  of  their 
young  animal  was  their  next  anxiety;  he  liked 
neither  fish,  flesh,  fruit,  nor  grass.  The  boat  next 
stopped  at  a  village ;  their  cows  were  seized  and 
milked,  and  the  young  charge  lapped  up  the  pro- 
duce. A  good  milch  cow  was  taken  on  board,  and 
with  this  supply  the  Hippopotamus  reached  Cairo. 
The  colour  of  his  skin  at  this  time  was  a  dull  reddish 
brown.  He  was  shown  to  the  Pasha  in  due  form ; 
the  present  created  intense  wonder  and  interest  in 
Cairo  ;  gaping  crowds  filled  its  narrow  sandy  streets, 
and  a  whale  at  London-bridge  would  scarcely  excite 
half  so  much  curiosity. 

It  being  thought  safer  for  the  animal  to  winter  in 
Cairo  than  to  proceed  forthwith  on  his  j  ourney,  the 
Consul  had  duly  prepared  to  receive  the  young 
stranger,  for  whom  he  had  engaged  a  sort  of  nurse, 
Hamet  Safi  Cannana.  An  apartment  was  allotted 
to  the  Hippopotamus  in  the  court-yard  of  the 
Consul's  house,  leading  to  a  warm  or  tepid  bath. 
His  milk-diet,  however,  became  a  troublesome  affair, 
for  the  new  comer  never  drank  less  than  from 
twenty  to  thirty  quarts  daily. 

By  the  next  mail  after  the  arrival  of  the  Hippo- 
potamus, the  Consul  despatched  the  glad  tidings  to 
the  Zoological  Society.  The  animal  was  shipped  at 
Alexandria,  in  the  Bipon  steamer.  On  the  main 
deck  was  built  a  house,  from  which  were  steps  down 


THE   HIPPOPOTAMUS   IN   ENGLAND.  Ill 

into  an  iron  tank  in  the  hold,  containing  400  gallons 
of  water,  as  a  bath :  it  was  filled  with  fresh  water 
every  other  day. 

Early  in  May,  the  Hippopotamus  was  conveyed 
in  the  canal-boat,  with  Hamet  Safi  Cannana,  to 
Alexandria,  where  the  debarkation  was  witnessed 
by  10,000  spectators.  The  animal  bore  the  voyage 
well.  He  lived  exclusively  on  milk,  of  which  he 
consumed  daily  about  forty  pints,  yielded  by  the 
cows  taken  on  board.  He  was  very  tame,  and,  like 
a  faithful  dog,  followed  his  Arab  attendant  Hamet, 
who  was  seldom  away  more  than  five  minutes 
without  being  summoned  to  return  by  a  loud  grunt. 
Hamet  slept  in  a  berth  with  the  Hippopotamus. 
On  May  25  they  were  landed  at  Southampton,  and 
sent  by  railway  to  London.  On  arriving  at  the 
Zoological  Society's  Gardens,  Hamet  walked  first 
out  of  the  transport  van,  with  a  bag  of  dates  over 
his  shoulder,  and  the  Hippopotamus  trotted  after 
him.  Next  morning  he  greatly  enjoyed  the  bath 
which  had  been  prepared  for  him.  Although  scarcely 
twelve  months  old,  his  massive  proportions  indicated 
the  enormous  power  to  be  developed  in  his  maturer 
growth ;  while  the  grotesque  expression  of  his  phy- 
siognomy far  exceeded  all  that  could  be  imagined 
from  the  stuffed  specimens  in  museums,  and  the 
figures  which  had  hitherto  been  published  from  the 
reminiscences  of  travellers. 

Among  the  earliest  visitors  was  Professor  Owen, 
who  first  saw  the  Hippopotamus  lying  on  its  side  in 
the  straw,  with  its  head  resting  against  the  chair  in 


112  THE   HIPPOPOTAMUS   IN   ENGLAND. 

which  sat  the  swarthy  attendant.  It  now  and  then 
grunted  softly,  and,  lazily  opening  its  thick,  smooth 
eyelids,  leered  at  its  keeper  with  a  singular  pro- 
truding movement  of  the  eyeball  from  the  prominent 
socket,  showing  an  unusual  proportion  of  the  white. 
The  retraction  of  the  eyeball  was  accompanied  by  a 
simultaneous  rolling  obliquely  downwards,  or  in- 
wards, or  forwards.  The  young  animal,  then  ten 
months'  old,  was  seven  feet  long,  and  six  and  a-half 
in  girth  at  the  middle  of  the  barrel-shaped  trunk, 
supported,  clear  of  the  ground,  on  very  short  and 
thick  legs,  each  terminated  by  four  spreading  hoofs, 
the  two  middle  ones  being  the  largest,  and  answering 
to  those  in  the  hog.  The  naked  hide,  covering  the 
broad  back  and  sides,  was  of  a  dark,  india-rubber 
colour,  with  numerous  fine  wrinkles  crossing  each 
other,  but  disposed  almost  transversely.  The  beast 
had  just  left  its  bath,  when  a  glistening  secretion 
gave  the  hide,  in  the  sunshine,  a  very  peculiar 
aspect.  When  the  animal  was  younger,  the  secre- 
tion had  a  reddish  colour,  and  the  whole  surface  of 
the  hide  became  painted  over  with  it  every  time  he 
quitted  his  bath. 

The  ears,  which  were  very  short,  conical,  and 
fringed  with  hairs,  it  moved  about  with  much 
vivacity.  The  skin  around  them  was  of  a  light 
reddish-brown  colour,  and  almost  flesh-coloured 
round  the  eyelids,  which  defended  the  prominent 
eyes,  which  had  a  few  short  hairs  on  the  margin  of 
the  upper  lid.  The  colour  of  the  iris  was  of  a  dark 
brown.  The  nostrils,  situated  on  prominences,  which 


THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS   IN    ENGLAND.  113 

the  animal  had  the  power  of  raising  on  the  upper 
part  of  the  broad  and  massive  muzzle,  were  short 
oblique  slits,  guarded  by  two  valves,  which  were 
opened  and  closed  spontaneously,  like  the  eyelids. 
The  movements  of  these  apertures  were  most  con- 
spicuous when  the  beast  was  in  the  bath. 

The  wide  mouth  was  chiefly  remarkable  for.  the 
upward  curve  of  its  angles  towards  the  eyes,  giving 
a  quaintly  comic  expression  to  the  massive  counten- 
ance. The  short  and  small  milk-tusks  projected  a 
little,  and  the  minute  incisors  appeared  to  be  sunk 
in  pits  of  the  thick  gums ;  but  the  animal  would  not 
permit  any  close  examination  of  the  teeth,  with- 
drawing his  head  from  the  attempt,  and  then 
threatening  to  bite.  The  muzzle  was  beset  with 
short  bristles,  split  into  tufts  or  pencils  of  hairs; 
and  fine  and  short  hairs  were  scattered  all  over  the 
back  and  sides.  The  tail  was  not  long,  rather  flat- 
tened and  tapering  to  an  obtuse  point. 

"We  may  here  observe  that,  at  certain  moments, 
the  whole  aspect  of  the  head  suggested  to  one  the 
idea  of  what  may  have  been  the  semblance  of  some 
of  the  gigantic  extinct  Batrachians  (as  sirens),  the 
relics  of  a  former  world,  whose  fossil  bones  in  the 
galleries  of  Palaeontology  in  the  British  Museum 
excite  our  special  wonder. 

After  lying  about  an  hour,  now  and  then  raising 
its  head,  and  swivelling  its  eyeballs  towards  the 
keeper,  or  playfully  opening  its  huge  mouth,  and 
threatening  to  bite  the  leg  of  the  chair  on  which  the 
keeper  sat,  the  Hippopotamus  rose,  and  walked  very 


114  THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN   ENGLAND. 

slowly  about  its  room,  and  then  uttered  a  loud  and 
short  harsh  snort  four  or  five  times  in  quick  succes- 
sion, reminding  one  of  the  snort  of  a  horse,  and 
ending  with  an  explosive  sound,  like  a  bark.  The 
keeper  understood  the  language — the  animal  desired 
to  return  to  its  bath. 

The  Hippopotamus  carried  its  head  rather  de- 
pressed, reminding  one  of  a  large  prize  hog,  but 
with  a  breadth  of  muzzle  and  other  features  peculi- 
arly its  own.  The  keeper  opened  the  door  leading 
into  a  paddock,  and  walked  thence  to  the  bath,  the 
Hippopotamus  following,  like  a  dog,  close  to  his 
heels.  On  arriving  at  the  bath-room,  the  animal 
descended  with  some  deliberation  the  flight  of  low 
steps  leading  into  the  water,  stooped  and  drank  a 
little,  dipped  his  head  under,  and  then  plunged 
forwards.  The  creature  seemed  inspired  with  new 
life  and  activity.  Sinking  to  the  bottom  of  the  bath, 
and  moving  about  submerged  for  a  while,  it  suddenly 
rose  .with  a  bound  almost  bodily  out  of  the  water. 
Splashing  back,  it  commenced  swimming  and  plung- 
ing about,  rolling  from  side  to  side,  taking  in 
mouthfuls  of  water  and  spirting  them  out  again, 
raising  every  now  and  then  its  huge  and  grotesque 
head,  and  biting  the  woodwork  of  the  margin  of 
the  bath.  The  broad  rounded  back  of  the  animal 
being  now  chiefly  in  view,  it  seemed  a  much  larger 
object  than  when  out  of  the  water. 

After  half  an  hour  spent  in  this  amusement,  the 
Hippopotamus  quitted  the  water  at  the  call  of  its 
keeper,  and  followed  him  back  to  the  sleeping-room, 


THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN    ENGLAND.  115 

which  was  well  bedded  with,  straw,  and  where  a 
stuffed  sack  was  provided  for  its  pillow,  of  which  the 
animal,  having  a  very  short  neck,  thicker  than  the 
head,  availed  itself  when  it  slept.  When  awake,  it 
was  very  impatient  of  any  absence  of  its  favourite 
attendant.  It  would  rise  on  its  hind  legs,  and 
threaten  to  break  down  the  wooden  fence,  by  butting 
and  pushing  against  it  in  a  way  very  significant  of 
its  great  muscular  force.  The  animal  appeared  to  be 
in  perfect  health,  and  breathed,  when  at  rest,  slowly 
and  regularly,  from  three  to  four  times  in  a  minute. 
Its  food  was  now  a  kind  of  porridge,  of  milk  and 
maize-meat,  it  being  more  than  half  weaned  from 
milk  diet.  Its  appetite  had  been  in  no  respect 
diminished  by  the  confinement  and  inconvenience  of 
the  sea  voyage,  or  by  change  of  climate.  All 
observers  appear  to  have  agreed  that,  to  see  the 
Hippopotamus  rightly,  is  to  see  him  in  the  water. 
There  his  activity  is  only  surpassed  by  that  of  the 
otter  or  the  seal.  Such  was  one  of  the  opportunities 
afforded  to  zoologists  for  "studying  this  most  re- 
markable and  interesting  African  mammal,  of  which 
no  living  specimen  had  been  seen  in  Europe  since 
the  period  when  Hippopotami  were  last  exhibited 
by  the  third  Gordian  in  the  amphitheatre  of  imperial 
Rome."* 

It  is  now  time  to  glance  at  the  general  economy 

of  the  Hippopotamus,  as  he  is  seen  in  his  native 

rivers   and   wilds.     In  early  days,   as   his   Roman 

name  imports,  it  was  usual  to  consider  him  as  a 

*  Professor  Owen. 

H  2 


116  THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN    ENGLAND. 

species  of  horse,  inhabiting  rivers  and  marshy 
grounds,  and,  in  a  more  especial  manner,  the  denizen 
of  the  Nile.  The  genus  is  placed  by  Linnseus  among 
his  lettuce,  between  equus  and  stis.  The  skeleton 
approaches  that  of  the  ox  and  of  the  hog,  but  it 
presents  differences  from  that  of  any  other  animal. 

The  Hippopotamus  is  found  not  only  in  the  Nile, 
but  in  the  rivers  of  southern  Africa.  In  the  former 
stream  of  marvels,  Hasselquist  relates  that  "  the 
oftener  the  River  Horse  goes  on  shore,  the  better 
hope  have  the  Egyptians  of  a  sufficient  swelling  or 
increase  of  the  Nile."  Again,  they  say  that  the 
Hiver  Horse  is  an  inveterate  enemy  to  the  crocodile, 
and  kills  it  whenever  he  meets  it;  adding  that  he 
does  much  damage  to  the  Egyptians  in  those  places 
he  frequents.  He  goes  on  shore,  and,  in  a  short  space 
of  time,  destroys  an  entire  field  of  corn  or  clover,  not 
leaving  the  least  verdure,  for  he  is  very  voracious. 

Yet  neither  of  these  stories  is  so  marvellous  as 
that  which  a  sailor  related  to  Dampier,  the  old 
traveller : — "  I  have  seen,"  says  the  mariner,  "  one 
of  these  animals  open  its  jaws,  and,  seizing  a  boat 
between  its  teeth,  at  one  bite  sink  it  to  the  bottom. 
I  have  seen  it,  on  another  occasion,  place  itself 
under  one  of  our  boats,  and,  rising  under  it,  overset 
it  with  six  men  who  were  in  it,  but  who,  however, 
happily  received  no  other  injury." 

Professor  Smith  and  Captain  Tuckey,  in  exploring 
the  Congo  Eiver,  in  South  Africa,  saw  in  a  beautiful 
sandy  cove,  at  the  opening  of  a  creek,  behind  a  long 
projecting  point,  an  immense  number  of  Hippo- 


THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN    ENGLAND.  117 

potami ;  and  in  the  evening  a  number  of  alligators 
were  also  seen  there ;  an  association  hardly  consistent 
with  the  hostility  related  by  Hasselquist. 

Captain  Tuckey  observed  Hippopotami  with  their 
heads  above  the  water,  "  snorting  in  the  air."  In 
another  part  of  his  narrative  he  says  : — "  Many 
Hippopotami  were  visible  close  to  our  tents  at  Condo 
Yanga.  No  use  firing  at  these  animals  in  the  water ; 
the  only  way  is  to  wait  till  they  come  on  shore  to 
feed  at  night." 

Le  Vaillant  had  an  opportunity  of  watching  the 
progress  of  a  Hippopotamus  under  water  at  Great 
River,  which  contained  many  of  these  animals.  On 
all  sides  he  could  hear  them  bellow  and  blow. 
Anxious  to  observe  them,  he  mounted  on  the  top  of 
an  elevated  rock  which  advanced  into  the  river,  and 
he  saw  one  walking  at  the  bottom  of  the  water.  Le 
Vaillant  killed  it  at  the  moment  when  it  came  to  the 
surface  to  breathe.  It  was  a  very  old  female,  and 
many  people,  in  their  surprise,  and  to  express  its 
size,  called  it  the  Grandmother  of  the  River. 

The  traveller  Lander  tells  us  that,  on  the  Niger, 
Hippopotami  are  termed  water-elephants.  One 
stormy  night,  as  they  were  sailing  up  this  unexplored 
current,  they  fell  in  with  great  numbers  of  Hippo- 
potami, who  came  plashing,  snorting,  and  plunging 
all  round  the  canoe.  Thinking  to  frighten  them  off, 
the  travellers  fired  a  shot  or  two  at  them,  but  the 
noise  only  called  up  from  the  water  and  out  of  the 
fens  about  as  many  more  Hippopotami,  and  they 
were  more  closely  beset  than  before.  Lander's 


118  THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN   ENGLAND. 

people,  who  had  never,  in  all  their  lives,  been  ex- 
posed to  such  formidable  beasts,  trembled  with  fear, 
and  absolutely  wept  aloud ;  whilst  peals  of  thunder 
rattled  over  their  heads,  and  the  most  vivid  light- 
ning showed  the  terrifying  scene.  Hippopotami 
frequently  upset  canoes  in  the  river.  When  the 
Landers  fired,  every  one  of  them  came  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  and  pursued  them  over  to  the 
north  bank.  A  second  firing  was  followed  by  a  loud 
roaring  noise.  However,  the  Hippopotami  did  the 
travellers  no  kind  of  mischief  whatever. 

Captain  Gordon,  when  among  the  Bakalahari,  in 
South  Africa,  bagged  no  fewer  than  fifteen  first-rate 
Hippopotami;  the  greater  number  of  them  being 
bulls. 

In  1828,  there  was  brought  to  England  the  head 
of  a  Hippopotamus,  with  all  the  flesh  about  it,  in  high 
preservation.  The  animal  was  harpooned  while  in 
combat  with  a  crocodile  in  a  lake  in  the  interior  of 
Africa.  The  head  measured  nearly  four  feet  in 
length,  and  eight  feet  in  circumference;  the  jaws 
opened  two  feet,  and  the  cutting  teeth,  of  which  it 
had  four  in  each  jaw,  were  above  a  foot  long,  and 
four  inches  in  circumference. 

The  utility  of  this  vast  pachydermatous,  or  thick- 
skinned  animal,  to  man  is  considerable.  That  he  can 
be  destructive  has  already  been  shown  in  his  clear- 
ance of  the  cultivated  banks  of  rivers.  The 
enormous  ripping,  chisel-like  teeth  of  the  lower  jaw 
fit  him  for  uprooting.  The  ancient  Egyptians  held 
the  animal  as  an  emblem  of  power,  though  this  may 


THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN    ENGLAND.  119 

have  arisen  from  his  reputed  destruction  of  the  cro- 
codile. The  flesh  is  much  esteemed  for  food,  both 
among  the  natives  and  c6lonists  of  South  Africa. 
The  blood  of  the  animal  is  said  to  have  been  used 
by  the  old  Indian  painters  in  mixing  their  colours. 
The  skin  is  extensively  employed  for  making  whips. 

But  there  is  no  part  of  the  Hippopotamus  more 
in  request  than  the  great  canine  teeth,  the  ivory  of 
which  is  so  highly  valued  by  dentists  for  making 
artificial  teeth,  on  account  of  its  keeping  its  colour 
better  than  any  other  kind.  This  superiority  was 
not  unknown  to  the  ancients  Pausanias  mentions 
the  statue  of  Dindymene,  whose  face  was  formed  of 
the  teeth  of  Hippopotami,  instead  of  elephants' 
ivory.  The  canine  teeth  are  imported  in  great 
numbers  into  England,  and  sell  at  a  very  high  price. 
From  the  closeness  of  the  ivory,  the  weight  of  the 
teeth,  a  part  only  of  which  is  available  for  the  arti- 
ficial purpose  above  mentioned,  is  great  in  propor- 
tion to  its  bulk ;  and  the  article  has  fetched  about 
thirty  shillings  per  pound. 

The  ancient  history  of  the  Hippopotamus  is  ex- 
tremely curious,  and  we  have  many  representations 
of  him  in  coins,  in  sculpture,  and  in  paintings, 
which  prove,  beyond  question,  that  the  artists,  as 
well  as  the  writers,  had  a  distinct  knowledge  of  what 
they  intended  to  represent. 

The  earliest  notice  which  occurs  in  any  author,  and 
which  has  been  considered  by  many  to  be  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  Hippopotamus,  is  the  celebrated  account 
in  the  fortieth  and  forty-first  chapter  of  the  Book  of 


120  THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN    ENGLAND. 

Job  of  Behemoth  and  Leviathan.  Many  learned 
men  have  contended  that  "Behemoth"  really  means 
"  Elephant,"  and  thus  the 'Zurich  version  of  the  Bible 
translates  the  Hebrew  by  "  Elephas." 

In  the  edition  of  the  English  Bible,  printed  by 
Robert  Barker,  in  1615,  for  King  James  I.,  and 
since  considered  as  the  authorised  version,  the  word 
"  Behemoth"  is  preserved  in  the  text,  and  the  fol- 
lowing annotation  is  added  : — "  This  beast  is  thought 
to  bee  the  Elephant,  or  some  other  which  is  un- 
knowen."  Bochart,  Ludolph,  and  some  others,  have 
contended  warmly  in  favour  of  the  Hippopotamus. 
Cuvier  thinks,  that  though  this  animal  is  probably 
intended,  yet  that  the  description  is  too  vague  for 
any  one  to  hold  a  certain  opinion  on  the  subject. 
The  theory  started  by  Bochart,  and  in  the  main  sup- 
ported by  Cuvier,  is  generally  supposed  the  real  one. 
The  description  in  the  Book  of  Job,  though  doubtless 
vague,  and  in  the  highest  degree  poetical,  has  yet 
sufficient  marks  to  render  the  identification  perfectly 
easy,  while  there  are  certain  peculiarities  mentioned, 
which  even  a  poetical  imagination  could  hardly  apply 
to  the  Elephant.  Thus,  when  it  is  said  of  him,  "  He 
lieth  under  the  shady  trees,  in  the  desert  of  the  reed 
and  fens;  .  .  .  the  willows  of  the  brook  compass 
}H'TP  round  about,"  this  would  seem  to  be  the  de- 
scription of  an  animal  which  frequented  the  water 
much  more  than  Elephants  are  accustomed  to  do. 
Again,  in  the  fuller  description  of  "  Leviathan,"  in 
the  forty-first  chapter,  we  think  it  is  quite  clear  that 
a  water  animal  is  intended,  though  what  is  there 


THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    IN    ENGLAND.  121 

stated  might  be  held  to  apply  to  the  crocodile  as 
well  as  the  Hippopotamus ;  both  are  animals  remark- 
able for  extreme  toughness  of  skin,  and  both  are 
almost  equally  difficult  to  kill  or  to  take  alive. 

Of  profane  authors,  Herodotus  is  the  first  who 
notices  this  animal,  but  his  account  is  far  from 
accurate :  the  size  he  states  as  large  as  the  biggest 
ox.  That  the  animal  was  sacred,  in  some  parts  at 
least,  appears  from  Herodotus,  who  says  : — "  Those 
which  are  found  in  the  district  of  Paprennis  are 
sacred,  but  in  other  parts  of  Egypt  they  are  not 
considered  in  the  same  light."  Aristotle  makes 
it  no  bigger  than  an  ass;  Diodorus,  an  elephant; 
Pliny  ascribes  to  it  the  tail  and  teeth  of  a  boar, 
adding,  that  helmets  and  bucklers  are  made  of  the 
skin.  Hippopotami  figured  in  the  triumphal  pro- 
cessions of  the  Roman  conquerors  on  their  return 
home.  M.  Scaurus  exhibited  five  crocodiles  and  an 
Hippopotamus;  and  Augustus  one  in  his  triumph 
over  Cleopatra.  Antoninus  exhibited  Hippopotami, 
with  lions  and  other  animals ;  Commodus  no  less 
than  five,  some  of  which  he  slew  with  his  own  hand. 
Heliogabalus,  and  the  third  Gordian,  also  exhibited 
Hippopotami. 

The  Hippopotamus  of  the  London  Zoological 
Society  was  joined  by  his  mate,  the  more  juvenile 
"Adhela,"  in  1853.  Two  Hippopotami  have  lately 
been  born  in  Europe ;  one  in  the  Garden  of  Plants, 
at  Paris,  in  1858;  and  another  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens  at  Amsterdam,  in  1866. 

With  regard  to  the  alleged  disappearance  of  the 


122  THE    HIPPOPOTAMUS    TN   ENGLAND. 

Hippopotamus  from  Lower  Egypt,  Cuvier  remarks, 
that  tie  French  savans  attached  to  the  Expedition 
to  Egypt,  who  ascended  the  Nile  above  Syene,  did 
not  meet  with  one. 

In  some  of  the  rivers  of  Liberia,  and  other  parts, 
perhaps,  of  Western  Africa,  a  second  species  of  Hip- 
popotamus exists,  and  is  proved  to  be  a  very  distinct 
animal. 

We  have  yet  to  glance  at  the  Hippopotami  of  a 
former  world.  Many  species  are  recognised  in  the 
fossil  remains  of  Europe  and  Asia  as  formerly  exist- 
ing in  England  and  in  France.  Cuvier  detected 
bones  of  the  Hippopotamus  among  the  fossil  wealth 
of  the  Great  Kirkdale  Cavern  in  Yorkshire,  in  1821. 
They  have  also  been  found  in  France,  and  especially 
in  the  Sewatick  Hills  in  India. 

In  the  Museum  of  the  London  Zoological  Society 
are  two  skulls  of  Hippopotami — one  fossil.  This 
measures  two  feet  three  inches,  and  allowing  for 
skin  and  lip,  two  feet  six  inches.  Now,  as  the 
head  is  about  one-fifth  the  length  of  the  body,  with- 
out the  tail,  the  full-grown  animal  would  be  little,  if 
any,  short  of  fifteen  feet  from  nose  to  tail — a  size 
worthy  the  description  of  the  Behemoth. 

We  may  here  add,  that  Burckhardt,  in  his 
"  Travels  in  Nubia,"  describes  the  voice  of  the 
Hippopotamus  as  a  hard  and  heavy  sound,  like  the 
creaking  or  groaning  of  a  large  wooden  door.  This 
noise,  he  says,  is  made  when  the  animal  raises  his 
huge  head  out  of  the  water,  and  when  he  retires  into 
it  again. 


LION-TALK. 


[HE  Lion  has,  within  the  present  century,  lost 
caste,  and  fallen  considerably  from  his  high 
estate.  He  has  been  stripped  of  much  of  his 
conventional  reputation  by  the  spirit  of  inquiry  into 
the  validity  of  olden  notions,  which  characterises  the 
present  age ;  and  it  appears  that  much  of  his  cele- 
brity is  founded  upon  popular  error.  Nor  are  these 
results  the  work  of  stay-at-home  travellers ;  but  they 
are  derived  from  the  observation  and  experience  of 
those  who,  amidst  scenes  of  perilous  adventure,  seek 
to  enlarge  and  correct  our  views  of  the  habit  and 
character  of  the  overrated  Lion. 

Mr.  Bennett,  in  his  admirable  work,  "  The  Tower 
Menagerie,"  has  these  very  sensible  remarks  : — "  In 
speaking  of  the  Lion  we  call  up  to  our  imaginations 
the  splendid  picture  of  might  unmingled  with  fero- 
city, of  courage  undebased  by  guile,  of  dignity  tem- 
pered by  grace  and  ennobled  by  generosity.  Such 
is  the  Lion  of  Buffon ;  who,  in  describing  this  ani- 
mal, as  in  too  many  other  instances,  has  suffered 


124  LION-TALK. 

himself  to  be  borne  along  by  the  strong  tide  of 
popular  opinion;  but,  as  the  Lion  appears  in  his 
native  regions,  according  to  the  authentic  accounts 
of  those  travellers  and  naturalists  who  have  had  the 
best  means  of  correctly  observing  his  habits,  he  is 
by  no  means  so  admirable  a  creature.  Where  the 
timid  antelope  and  powerless  monkey  fall  his  easy 
and  unresisting  prey — or  where  the  elephant  and 
buffalo  find  their  unwieldy  bulk  and  strength  no 
adequate  protection  against  his  impetuous  agility — 
he  stalks  boldly  to  and  fro  in  fearless  majesty. 
But  in  the  neighbourhood  of  man — even  in  that  of 
uncultivated  savages — he  skulks  in  treacherous  ambush 
for  his  prey.  Of  his  forbearance  and  generosity  it 
can  merely  be  said,  that  when  free,  he  destroys  only 
what  is  sufficient  to  satiate  his  hunger  or  revenge ; 
and  when  in  captivity — his  wants  being  provided  for, 
and  his  feelings  not  irritated — he  suffers  smaller 
animals  to  live  unmolested  in  his  den,  or  submits  to 
the  control  of  a  keeper  by  whom  he  is  fed.  But 
even  this  limited  degree  of  docility  is  liable  to  fear- 
ful interruptions  from  the  calls  of  hunger,  the  feel- 
ings of  revenge — and  these  he  frequently  cherishes 
for  a  long  period — with  various  other  circumstances 
which  render  it  dangerous  to  approach  him  in  his 
most  domesticated  state,  without  ascertaining  his 
immediate  mood  and  temper.  That  an  animal  which 
seldom  attacks  by  open  force,  but  silently  approaches 
his  victim,  and  when  he  imagines  his  prey  to  be 
within  his  reach,  bounds  upon  it  with  an  overwhelm- 
ing leap,  should  ever  have  been  regarded  as  the  type 


LION-TALK.  125 

of  courage  and  the  emblem  of  magnanimity,  is  in- 
deed most  astonishing  I" 

The  generosity  of  disposition  so  liberally  accorded 
to  this  powerful  beast  has  been  much  and  eloquently 
praised ;  and  it  seems  hard  to  dissipate  the  glowing 
vision  which  Buffon  has  raised ;  but,  if  there  is  any 
dependence  to  be  placed  on  the  observations  of  those 
travellers  who  have  had  the  best  opportunities  of 
judging,  and  have  the  highest  character  for  veracity, 
we  must  be  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  Buffon's 
Lion  is  the  Lion  of  poetry  and  prejudice,  and  very 
unlike  the  cautious  lurking  savage  that  steals  on  its 
comparatively  weak  prey  by  surprise,  overwhelms  it 
at  once  by  the  terror,  the  weight,  and  the  violence 
of  the  attack,  and  is  intent  only  on  the  gratification 
of  the  appetite.  "  At  the  time/'  says  Mr.  Burchell, 
"  when  men  first  adopted  the  Lion  as  the  emblem  of 
courage,  it  would  seem  that  they  regarded  great  size 
and  strength  as  indicating  it ;  but  they  were  greatly 
mistaken  in  the  character  they  had  given  of  the 
indolent  animal."  Indeed,  Mr.  Burchell  calls  the 
Lion  an  "  indolent  skulking  animal."  The  fact  of 
the  Lion  sparing  the  dog  that  was  thrown  to  him, 
and  making  a  friend  of  the  little  animal  that  was 
destined  for  his  prey,  has  been  much  dwelt  on ;  but 
these  and  other  such  acts  of  mercy,  as  they  have 
been  called,  may  be  very  easily  accounted  for.  If 
not  pressed  by  hunger,  the  Lion  will  seldom  be  at 
the  trouble  of  killing  prey ;  and  the  desire  for  a 
companion  has  created  much  stronger  friendships 
between  animals  in  confinement  than  between  a 


126 


LION-TALK. 


Lion  and  a  little  dog.  St.  Pierre  touchingly  de- 
scribes the  Lion  of  Versailles,  who,  in  1792,  lived  most 
happily  with  a  dog,  and  on  whose  death  he  became 
disconsolate  and  miserable ;  and  in  confinement  the 
"lordly  Lion,"  as  Young  calls  him,  has  been 
known  to  be  deeply  afflicted  with  melancholy  at 
similar  losses. 

The  Lion  is  easily  tamed,  and  capable  of  attach- 
ment to  man.  The  story  of  Androdas,  frequently 
called  Androcles,  is  too  well  known  to  need  more 
than  allusion  ;  but  in  this  and  other  stories  of  Lions 
licking  men's  hands  without  injuring  them,  there 
must  be  a  stretch  of  fancy ;  for  the  Lion's  tongue 
has  sharp  thorn-points,  inclining  backwards,  so  as 
not  to  be  able  to  lick  the  hand  without  tearing  away 
the  skin,  which  any  one  will  understand  who  has 
heard  the  Lion  tear  the  raw  meat  away  from  the  bone 
of  his  food. 

Still,  very  different  accounts  are  given  by  tra- 
vellers of  the  cruelty  or  generosity  of  the  Lion's 
nature  ;  which  results,  in  all  probability,  from  a  dif- 
ference in  time  or  circumstances,  or  the  degree  of 
hunger  which  the  individual  experienced  when  the 
respective  observations  were  made  upon  him. 

Meanwhile,  there  are  many  points  in  the  history 
of  the  Lion  which  are  yet  but  imperfectly  under- 
stood ;  the  explanations  of  which,  whilst  they  are 
interesting,  add  to  our  correct  knowledge  of  this 
still  extraordinary  animal. 

The  Lion  has  been  styled  "The  King  of  the 
Forest,"  which  is  not  very  applicable  to  him,  seeing 


LION-TALK.  127 

that  Mr.  Burchell  at  least  never  met  with  but  one 
Lion  on  the  plains ;  nor  did  he  ever  meet  with  one 
in  any  of  the  forests  where  he  had  been.  The  low 
cover  that  creeps  along  the  sides  of  streams,  the 
patches  that  mark  the  springs  in  the  rank  grass  of 
the  valley,  seem  to  be  the  shelter  which  the  African 
Lion,  for  the  most  part,  seeks.  His  strength  is  ex- 
traordinary. To  carry  off  a  man  (and  there  are 
dismal  accounts  of  this  horrible  fact,  which  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt)  appears  a  feat  of  no  difficulty 
to  this  powerful  brute.  A  Cape  Lion,  seizing  a 
heifer  in  his  mouth,  has  carried  her  off  with  the  same 
ease  as  a  cat  does  a  rat ;  and  has  leaped  with  her  over 
a  broad  dyke  without  the  least  difficulty.  A  young 
Lion,  too,  has  conveyed  a  horse  about  a  mile  from 
the  spot  where  he  had  killed  it. 

There  seems  to  be  an  idea  that  the  Lion  preserves 
human  prey;  but,  be  this  as  it  may,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  certain  districts  have  been  under  the  necessity 
of  resorting  to  a  curious  expedient  to  get  out  of  the 
Lion's  reach.  ^Elian,  by  the  way,  records  the  extinc- 
tion of  a  Libyan  people  by  an  invasion  of  Lions.  We 
read  of  a  large  tree,  in  the  country  of  the  Mantatees, 
which  has  amidst  its  limbs  fourteen  conical  huts. 
These  are  used  as  dormitories,  being  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  Lions,  which,  since  the  incursions  of  the 
Mantatees,  when  so  many  thousands  of  persons  were 
massacred,  have  become  very  numerous  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  destructive  to  human  life.  The 
branches  of  the  above  trees  are  supported  by  forked 
sticks  or  poles,  and  there  are  three  tiers  or  platforms  on 


128  LION-TALK. 

which  the  huts  are  constructed.  The  lowest  is  nine 
feet  from  the  ground,  and  holds  ten  huts ;  the  se- 
cond, about  eight  feet  high,  has  three  huts ;  and  the 
upper  story,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  contains  four. 
The  ascent  to  these  is  made  by  notches  cut  in  the 
poles ;  the  huts  are  built  with  twigs,  and  thatched 
with  straw,  and  will  contain  two  persons  conveni- 
ently. This  tree  stands  at  the  base  of  a  range  of 
mountains  due  east  of  Kurrichaine,  in  a  place  called 
"Ongorutcie  Fountain,"  about  1,000  miles  north- 
east of  Cape  Town.  Kurrichaine  is  the  Staffordshire 
as  well  as  the  Birmingham  of  that  part  of  South 
Africa.  There  are  likewise  whole  villages  of  huts 
erected  on  stakes,  about  eight  feet  from  the  ground ; 
the  inhabitants,  it  is  stated,  sit  under  the  shade  of 
these  platforms  during  the  day,  and  retire  to  the 
elevated  huts  at  night. 

Though  mortal  accidents  frequently  occur  in  Lion- 
hunting,  the  cool  sportsman  seldom  fails  of  using  his 
rifle  with  effect.  Lions,  when  roused,  it  seems,  walk 
off  quietly  at  first,  and  if  no  cover  is  near,  and  they 
are  not  pursued,  they  gradually  mend  their  pace  to 
a  trot,  till  they  have  reached  a  good  distance,  and 
then  they  bound  away.  Their  demeanour  is  careless, 
as  if  they  did  not  want  a  fray,  but  if  pressed,  are 
ready  to  fight  it  out.  If  they  are  pursued  closely, 
they  turn  and  crouch,  generally  with  their  faces  to 
the  adversary  :  then  the  nerves  of  the  sportsman  are 
tried.  If  he  is  collected,  and  master  of  his  craft, 
the  well-directed  rifle  ends  the  scene  at  once ;  but  if, 
in  the  flutter  of  the  moment,  the  vital  parts  are 


LION-TALK.  129 

missed,  or  the  ball  passes  by,  leaving  the  Lion  un- 
hurt, the  infuriated  beast  frequently  charges  on  his 
enemies,  dealing  destruction  around  him.  This,  how- 
ever, is  not  always  the  case ;  and  a  steady,  unshrink- 
ing deportment  has,  in  some  instances,  saved  the 
life  of  the  hunter. 

There  is  hardly  a  book  of  African  travels  which 
does  not  teem  with  the  dangers  and  hair-breadth 
escapes  of  the  Lion-hunters ;  and  hardly  one  that 
does  not  include  a  fatal  issue  to  some  engaged  in  this 
hazardous  sport.  The  modes  of  destruction  employed 
against  the  powerful  beast  are  very  various — from 
the  poisonous  arrow  of  the  Bushman  to  the  rifle  of 
the  colonist. 

The  Lion  may  be  safely  attacked  while  sleeping, 
because  of  the  dullness  of  his  sense  of  hearing,  the 
difficulty  of  awakening  him,  and  his  want  of  presence 
of  mind  if  he  be  so  awakened.  Thus  the  Bushmen 
of  Africa  are  enabled  to  keep  the  country  tolerably 
clear  of  Lions,  without  encountering  any  great  dan- 
ger. The  bone  of  the  Lion's  fore-leg  is  of  remark- 
able hardness,  from  its  containing  a  greater  quantity 
of  phosphate  of  lime  than  is  found  in  ordinary  bones, 
so  that  it  may  resist  the  powerful  contraction  of  the 
muscles.  The  texture  of  this  bone  is  so  compact  that 
the  substance  will- strike  fire  with  steel.  He  has 
little  sense  of  taste,  his  lingual  or  tongue-nerve  not 
being  larger  than  that  of  a  middle-sized  dog. 

The  true  Lions  belong  to  the  Old  World  exclu- 
sively, and  they  were  formerly  widely  and  abund- 
antly diffused ;  but  at  present  they  are  confined  to 


130  LION-TALK. 

Asia  and  Africa,  and  they  are  becoming  every  day 
more  and  more  scarce  in  those  quarters  of  the  globe. 
That  Lions  were  once  found  in  Europe  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  Thus  it  is  recorded  by  Herodotus  that 
the  baggage-camels  of  the  army  of  Xerxes  were 
attacked  by  Lions  in  the  country  of  the  Reonians 
and  the  Crestonsei  on  their  march  from  Acanthus 
(near  the  peninsula  of  Mount  Athos)  to  Therma, 
afterwards  Thessalonica  (now  Saloniki) ;  the  camels 
alone,  it  is  stated,  were  attacked,  other  beasts 
remaining  untouched,  as  well  as  men.  Pausanias 
copies  the  above  story,  and  states,  moreover,  that 
Lions  often  descended  into  the  plains  at  the  foot 
of  Olympus,  which  separate  Macedonia  from  Thes- 
saly,  and  that  Polydamas,  a  celebrated  athlete,  slew 
one  of  the  Lions,  although  he  was  unarmed. 

Nor  is  Europe  the  only  part  of  the  world  from 
which  the  form  of  the  Lion  has  disappeared.  Lions 
are  no  longer  to  be  found  in  Egypt,  Palestine,  or 
Syria,  where  they  once  were  evidently  far  from 
uncommon.  The  frequent  allusions  to  the  Lion 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  various  Hebrew 
terms  there  used  to  distinguish  the  different  ages 
and  sex  of  the  animal,  prove  a  familiarity  with  the 
habits  of  the  race.  Even  in  Asia  generally,  with 
the  exception  of  some  countries  between  India  and 
Persia  and  some  districts  of  Arabia,  these  magnifi- 
cent beasts  have,  as  Cuvier  observes,  become  com- 
paratively rare,  and  this  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  immense  draughts  on  the 
race  for  the  Roman  arena, — and  they  were  not 


LION-TALK.  131 

inconsiderable,  for,  as  Zimmerman  has  shown,  there 
were  1,000  lions  killed  at  Rome  in  the  space  of 
forty  years, — population  and  civilization  have  gra- 
dually driven  them  within  narrower  limits,  and 
their  destruction  has  been  rapidly  worked  in 
modern  times,  when  firearms  have  been  used 
against  them  instead  of  the  bow  and  the  spear, 
Sylla  gave  a  combat  of  one  hundred  Lions  at  once 
in  his  sedileship ;  but  this  exhibition  is  insignificant 
when  compared  with  those  of  Pompey  and  Caesar, 
the  former  of  whom  exhibited  a  fight  of  six  hundred, 
and  the  latter  of  four  hundred  Lions.  In  Pompey's 
show  three  hundred  and  fifteen  of  the  six  hundred 
were  males.  The  early  Emperors  consumed  great 
numbers,  frequently  a  hundred  at  a  time,  to  gratify 
the  people. 

The  African  Lion  is  annually  retiring  before  the 
persecution  of  man  farther  and  farther  from  the 
Cape.  Mr.  Bennett  says  of  the  Lion  : — "  His  true 
country  is  Africa,  in  the  vast  and  untrodden  wilds 
of  which,  from  the  immense  deserts  of  the  north 
to  the  trackless  forests  of  the  south,  he  reigns 
supreme  and  uncontrolled.  In  the  sandy  deserts 
of  Arabia,  in  some  of  the  wild  districts  of  Persia, 
and  in  the  vast  jungles  of  Hindostan,  he  still  main- 
tains a  precarious  footing ;  but  from  the  classic  soil 
of  Greece,  as  well  as  from  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor, 
both  of  which  were  once  exposed  to  his  ravages, 
he  has  been  entirely  dislodged  and  extirpated." 

Mebuhr  places  Lions  among  the  animals  of 
i  2 


132  LION-TALK. 

Arabia ;  but  their  proper  country  is  Africa,  where 
their  size  is  the  largest,  their  numbers  are  greatest, 
and  their  rage  more  tremendous,  being  inflamed  by 
the  influence  of  a  burning  sun  upon  a  most  arid 
soil.  Dr.  Fryer  says  that  those  of  India  are  feeble 
and  cowardly.  In  the  interior  parts,  amidst  the 
scorched  and  desolate  deserts  of  Zaara  or  Bile- 
dugerid,  they  reign  the  masters ;  they  lord  it  over 
every  beast,  and  their  courage  never  meets  with 
a  check  where  the  climate  keeps  mankind  at  a 
distance.  The  nearer  they  approach  the  habita- 
tions of  the  human  race  the  less  their  rage,  or  rather 
the  greater  is  their  timidity  :  they  have  often  had 
experienced  unequal  combats,  and  finding  that  there 
exists  a  being  superior  to  themselves,  commit  their 
ravages  with  more  caution ;  a  cooler  climate,  again, 
has  the  same  effect,  but  in  the  burning  deserts, 
where  rivers  and  springs  are  denied,  they  live  in 
a  perpetual  fever,  a  sort  of  madness  fatal  to  every 
animal  they  meet  with. 

The  watchfulness  and  tenacity  of  the  Lion  for 
human  prey  are  very  extraordinary.  Mr.  Bar- 
row relates  that  a  Lion  once  pursued  a  Hot- 
tentot from  a  pool  of  water,  where  he  was  driving 
his  cattle  to  drink,  to  an  olive-tree,  in  which  the 
man  remained  for  twenty-four  hours,  while  the 
Lion  laid  himself  at  the  foot  of  the  tree.  The 
patience  of  the  beast  was  at  length  worn  out  by 
his  desire  to  drink,  and  while  he  satisfied  his  thirst 
the  Hottentot  fled  to  his  house,  about  a  mile  off. 


LION-TALK.  133 

The  Lion,  however,  returned  to  the  tree,  and 
tracked  the  man  within  three  hundred  yards  of 
his  dwelling. 

Dr.  Philip  relates  a  horrible  story  of  a  very  large 
Lion  recorded  at  Cape  Town  in  the  year  1705. 
He  was  known  to  have  seized  a  sentry  at  a  tent, 
and  was  pursued  and  fired  at  by  many  persons 
without  effect.  Next  morning  the  Lion  walked 
up  a  hill  with  the  man  in  his  mouth,  when  about 
forty  shots  were  fired  at  him  without  hitting  him ; 
and  it  was  perceived  by  the  blood,  and  a  piece  of 
the  clothes  of  the  sentry,  that  the  Lion  had  taken 
him  away  and  carried  him  with  him.  He  was  pur- 
sued by  a  band  of  Hottentots,  one  of  whom  he  seized 
with  his  claws  by  the  mantle,  when  the  man  stabbed 
him  with  an  assagai.  Other  Hottentots  adorned 
him  with  their  assagais,  so  that  he  looked  like  a 
porcupine ;  he  roared  and  leaped  furiously,  but  was 
at  length  shot  dead.  He  had  a  short  time  before 
carried  off  a  Hottentot  and  devoured  him. 

The  Bengal  or  Asiatic  Lion  is  distinguished  from 
that  of  Southern  Africa  principally  by  the  larger 
size,  the  more  regular  and  graceful  form,  the  gene- 
rally darker  colour,  and  the  less  extensive  mane  than 
the  African.  William  Harvey,  the  graceful  artist, 
drew  a  portrait  of  a  very  fine  Bengal  Lion,  little 
more  than  five  years  old,  and  then  in  the  Tower 
collection,  and  called  by  the  keepers  "  the  Old 
Lion :  "  the  magnificent  development  of  the  mane 
is  very  striking  in  this  figure. 

Maneless  Lions  have  been  found  on  the  confines 


134  LION-TALK. 

of  Arabia,  and  were  known  to  Aristotle  and  Pliny ; 
a  maneless  Lion  is  also  said  to  be  represented  on  the 
monuments  of  Upper  Egypt.  The  Lion  of  Arabia 
has  neither  the  courage  nor  the  stature,  nor  even 
the  beauty,  of  the  Lion  of  Africa.  He  uses  cunning 
rather  than  force ;  he  crouches  among  the  reeds 
which  border  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  and  springs 
upon  all  the  feeble  animals  which  come  there  to 
quench  their  thirst;  but  he  dares  not  attack  the 
boar,  which  is  very  common  there,  and  flies  as  soon 
as  he  perceives  a  man,  a  woman,  or  even  a  child. 
If  he  catches  a  sheep  he  makes  off  with  his  prey ; 
but  he  abandons  it  to  save  himself  when  an  Arab 
looks  after  him.  If  he  is  hunted  by  horsemen, 
which  often  happens,  he  does  not  defend  himself 
unless  he  is  wounded,  and  has  no  hope  of  safety  by 
flight.  In  such  a  case  he  will  fly  on  a  man  and 
tear  him  to  pieces  with  his  claws,  for  it  is  courage 
more  than  strength  that  he  wants.  Achmed,  Pasha  of 
Bagdad  from  1724  to  1747,  would  have  been  torn 
by  one,  after  breaking  his  lance  in  a  hunt,  if  his 
slave  Suleiman,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  Pashalik, 
had  not  come  promptly  to  his  succour  and  pierced 
with  a  blow  of  his  yataghan  the  Lion  already 
wounded  by  his  master. 

In  December,  1833,  Captain  Walter  Smee  ex- 
hibited to  the  Zoological  Society  of  London  the 
skins  of  a  Lion  and  Lioness  killed  by  him  in 
Guzerat,  and  distinguished  from  those  previously 
known  by  the  absence  of  a  mane;  the  tail  was 
shorter  than  that  of  the  ordinary  Lion,  and  fur- 


LION-TALK.  135 

nished  at  its  tip  with  a  much  larger  brush  or  tuft  ; 
and  in  the  tuft  of  the  older  Lion  was  a  short  horny 
claw  or  nail.  The  colour  is  fulvous ;  which  in  darker 
specimens  has  a  tinge  of  red.  A  male  maneless 
Lion,  killed  by  Captain  Smee,  measured,  including 
the  tail,  8  feet  9 J  inches  in  length ;  the  impression 
of  his  paw  on  the  sand  6i  inches  across,  and  his 
height  was  3  feet  6  inches.  These  maneless  Lions 
are  found  in  Guzerat,  along  the  banks  of  the 
Sombermultee,  in  low,  bushy-wooded  plains,  being 
driven  out  of  the  large  adjoining  tracts  of  high 
grass  jungle  by  the  natives  annually  setting  fire  to 
the  grass.  Here  Captain  Smee  killed  his  finest 
specimens :  they  were  so  common  in  this  district 
that  he  killed  no  fewer  than  eleven  during  a  resi- 
dence of  about  a  month,  yet  scarcely  any  of  the 
natives  had  seen  them  previously  to  his  coming 
amongst  them.  The  cattle  were  frequently  carried 
off  by  these  Lions  :  some  natives  attributed  this  to 
tigers,  which,  however,  do  not  exist  in  this  part  of 
the  country.  Captain  Smee  could  not  learn  that  men 
had  been  attacked  by  these  Lions  :  when  struck  by  a 
ball  they  exhibited  great  boldness,  standing  as  if 
preparing  to  resist  their  pursuers,  and  then  going 
off  slowly,  and  in  a  very  sullen  manner. 

In  captivity  the  Lioness  usually  turns  extremely 
savage  when  she  becomes  a  mother;  and,  in  a 
state  of  nature,  both  parents  guard  their  young 
with  the  greatest  jealousy.  Early  in  the  year 
1823  General  Watson,  then  on  service  in  Bengal, 
being  out  one  morning  on  horseback,  armed  with 


136  LION-TALK. 

a  double-barrelled  rifle,  was  suddenly  surprised  by 
a  large  male  Lion,  which  bounded  out  upon  him 
from  the  thick  jungle,  at  the  distance  of  only  a  few 
yards.  He  instantly  fired,  and  the  shot  taking 
complete  effect,  the  animal  fell  almost  dead  at  his 
feet.  No  sooner  had  the  Lion  fallen  than  the 
Lioness  rushed  out,  which  the  General  also  shot 
at  and  wounded  severely,  so  that  she  retired  into 
the  thicket.  Thinking  that  the  den  could  not  be 
far  distant,  he  traced  her  to  her  retreat,  and  there 
despatched  her ;  and  in  the  den  were  found  two 
beautiful  cubs,  a  male  and  a  female,  apparently  not 
more  than  three  months  old.  This  is  a  very  touch- 
ing narrative,  even  of  the  Lion  family. 

The  General  brought  the  cubs  away ;  they  were 
suckled  by  a  goat  and  sent  to  England,  where 
they  arrived  in  September,  1823,  as  a  present  to 
George  IV.,  and  were  lodged  in  the  Tower.  When 
young,  Lions  mew  like  a  cat ;  at  the  age  of  ten  or 
twelve  months  the  mane  begins  to  appear  in  the 
male  ;  at  the  age  of  eighteen  months  this  appendage 
is  considerably  developed,  and  they  begin  to  roar. 
The  roar  of  the  adult  Lion  is  terrific,  from  the 
larynx  or  upper  part  of  the  windpipe  being  pro- 
portionately greater  than  in  the  whale  or  the  ele- 
phant, or  any  other  animal.  Mr.  Burchell  describes 
the  roar  on  some  occasions  to  resemble  the  noise  of 
an  earthquake ;  and  this  terrific  effect  is  produced 
by  the  Lion  laying  his  head  upon  the  ground  and 
uttering,  as  it  were,  a  half-stifled  roar  or  growl, 
which  is  conveyed  along  the  earth. 


LION-TALK.  137 

The  natural  period  of  the  Lion's  life  is  generally 
supposed  to  be  twenty  or  twenty-two  years.  Such 
is  Buffon's  limitation ;  but  the  animal  will,  it  seems, 
live  much  longer.  Pompey,  the  great  Lion,  which 
died  in  1766,  was  said  to  have  been  in  the  Tower 
above  seventy  years;  and  a  Lion  from  the  river 
Gambia  is  stated  to  have  since  died  in  the  Tower 
menagerie  at  the  age  of  sixty-three. 

There  had  been  for  ages  a  popular  belief  that  the 
Lion  lashes  his  sides  with  his  tail  to  stimulate  him- 
self into  rage ;  when,  in  1832,  there  was  exhibited 
to  the  Zoological  Society  a  claw  obtained  from  the 
tip  of  the  tail  of  a  Barbary  Lion,  presented  to  the 
Society's  menagerie  by  Sir  Thomas  Heade.  It  was 
detected  on  the  living  animal  by  Mr.  Bennett,  and 
pointed  out  to  the  keeper,  in  whose  hands  it  came 
off  while  he  was  examining  it.  Blumenbach  quotes 
Homer,  Lucan,  and  Pliny,  among  others  who  have 
described  the  Lion  (erroneously)  as  lashing  himself 
with  his  tail,  when  angry,  to  provoke  his  rage. 
None  of  these  writers,  however,  advert  to  any  pecu- 
liarity in  the  Lion's  tail  to  which  so  extraordinary  a 
function  might,  however  incorrectly,  be  attributed. 
Didymus  Alexandrinus,  a  commentator  on  the 
"Iliad,"  cited  by  Blumenbach,  having  found  a 
black  prickle,  like  a  horn,  among  the  hair  of  the 
tail,  immediately  conjectured  that  he  had  ascertained 
the  true  cause  of  the  stimulus  when  the  animal 
flourishes  his  tail  in  defiance  of  his  enemies,  re- 
marking that,  when  punctured  by  this  prickle,  the 


138  LION-TALK. 

Lion  became  more  irritable  from  the  pain  which  it 
occasioned.  The  subject,  however,  appears  to  have 
slumbered  till  1829,  when  M.  Deshayes  announced 
that  he  had  found  the  prickle  both  of  a  Lion  and 
Lioness,  which  had  died  in  the  French  menagerie, 
and  described  it  as  a  little  nail,  or  horny  production, 
adhering  by  its  base  only  to  the  skin,  and  not  to  the 
last  caudal  vertebra.  From  that  period  Mr.  Wood, 
the  able  zoologist,  examined  the  tail  of  every  Lion, 
living  or  dead,  to  which  he  could  gain  access ;  but 
in  no  instance  had  he  succeeded  in  finding  the  prickle 
till  the  above  specimen,  which  was  placed  in  his 
hands  within  half  an  hour  after  its  removal  from  the 
living  animal,  and  while  yet  soft  at  its  base,  where 
it  had  been  attached  to  the  skin.  Its  shape  was 
nearly  straight,  then  slightly  contracted,  forming  a 
very  obtuse  angle,  and  afterwards  swelling  out  like 
the  bulb  of  a  bristle,  to  its  termination.  It  was 
laterally  flattened  throughout  its  entire  length,  which 
did  not  amount  to  quite  three-eighths  of  an  inch,  of 
horn  colour,  and  nearly  black  at  the  tip.  Its  con- 
nexion with  the  skin  must  have  been  very  slight, 
which  accounts  for  its  usual  absence  in  stuffed  as 
well  as  living  specimens.  This  does  not  depend 
upon  age,  as  it  was  found  alike  in  the  Paris  Lions, 
of  considerable  size,  as  well  as  in  the  Zoological 
Society's  Lions,  very  small  and  young;  nor  did  it 
depend  upon  sex.  It  appears  to  be  occasionally 
present  in  the  Leopard;  and,  in  both  Lion  and 
Leopard,  it  is  seated  at  the  extreme  tip  of  the  tail, 


LION-TALK.  139 

and  is  altogether  unconnected  with  the  terminal 
caudal  vertebra ;  not  fitted  on  like  a  cap,  but  rather 
inserted  into  the  skin. 

The  use  of  the  prickle,  however,  it  still  remained 
difficult  to  conjecture ;  but  that  its  existence  was 
known  to  the  ancients  is  proved  by  the  Nimroud 
sculptures  in  the  British  Museum,  in  an  exaggerated 
representation  of  the  claw,  in  support  of  this  curious 
fact  in  natural  history.  The  existence  of  the  claw 
has  been  proved  by  Mr.  Bennett;  and  "it  is  no 
small  gratification  to  be  able  now  to  quote  in  evidence 
of  the  statement  of  Mr.  Bennett,  and  of  his  prede- 
cessor, Didymus,  of  Alexandria,  the  original  and 
authentic  document,  on  the  authority  of  the  veritable 
descendants  of  the  renowned  hunter  Nimroud ; 
which  any  one  may  read  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
examine  the  sculptured  slab  in  the  British  Museum."* 

In  the  Nineveh  galleries  of  the  British  Museum 
we  also  see  pictured  in  stone  the  employment  of  the 
Lion,  in  the  life  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  three 
thousand  years  since ;  in  the  events  of  a  succession 
of  dynasties,  recording  the  sieges .  of  cities,  the 
combats  of  warriors,  the  triumphs  of  Kings,  the 
processions  of  victors,  the  chains  and  fetters  of  the 
vanquished.  To  the  zoological  observer  these  sculp- 
tures present  drawings  ad  naturam  of  tableaux  of 
Lions  and  Lion-hunts  ;  Lions  in  combat,  as  well  as 
in  moveable  dens  and  cages,  and  the  ferocity  of  the 
chase;  and  Lions  transfixed  with  arrows  or  javelins 
in  the  arena.  One  of  the  finest  of  these  sculptures 
*  Bonomi ;  "  Nineveh  and  its  Palaces,"  p.  249. 


140  LION-TALK. 

is  in  the  representation  of  a  Lion-hunt,  on  a  long 
slab  that  lined  the  principal  chamber  of  the  most 
ancient  palace  at  Nimroud.  The  King  is  in  his 
chariot,  drawn  by  three  horses,  which  the  charioteer 
is  urging  forward  to  escape  the  attack  of  an  infuri- 
ated Lion  that  has  already  placed  its  fore-paws  upon 
the  back  of  the  chariot.  At  this  critical  moment, 
the  Royal  descendant  of  the  mighty  hunter  aims  a 
deadly  shaft  at  the  head  of  the  roaring  and  wounded 
Lion,  the  position  of  whose  tail  and  limbs  is  finely 
indicative  of  rage  and  fury.  Behind  the  Lion  are 
two  of  the  King's  attendants,  fully  armed,  and 
holding  their  daggers  and  shields,  ready  to  defend 
themselves  in  case  the  prey  should  escape  the  arrow 
of  the  King.  Before  the  chariot  is  a  wounded  Lion, 
crawling  from  under  the  horses'  feet.  The  cringing 
agony  conveyed  in  its  entire  action  is  well  contrasted 
with  the  undaunted  fury  of  the  former.  In  another 
slab  we  have  the  continuation  of  the  same  Lion-hunt, 
representing  the  triumphant  return  of  the  King 
from  the  chase.  At  his  feet  lies  the  Lion  subdued, 
but  not  dead. 

Of  the  pageantry  of  the  Lion,  we  read,  in 
Bell's  "Travels,"  that  the  monarch  of  Persia  had, 
on  days  of  audience,  two  great  Lions  chained  on 
each  side  of  the  passage  to  the  state-room,  led  there 
by  keepers  in  golden  chains. 

Our  early  English  Sovereigns  had  a  menagerie  in 
the  Tower  from  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  (1252.)  In 
1370  (44  Edward  III.)  are  entries  of  payments 
made  to  "the  Keeper  of  the  King's  Lions  and 


LION-TALK.  141 

Leopards"  there,  at  the  rate  of  6d.  a-day  for  his 
wages,  and  6d.  a-day  for  each  beast.  The  number 
of  beasts  varied  from  four  to  seven.  Two  young 
Lions  are  specially  mentioned ;  and  "  a  Lion  lately 
sent  by  the  Lord  the  Prince,  from  Germany  to 
England,  to  our  Lord  the  King."  And  we  read,  in 
Lord  Burghley's  "Diary,"  1586,  of  the  grant  of 
the  keeping  of  the  Lions  in  the  Tower,  with  "  the 
Fine  of  12d.  per  diem,  and  6d.  for  the  Meat  of  those 
Lions."  The  first  menagerie-building  was  the  Lion 
Tower,  to  which  was  added  a  semicircular  inclosure, 
where  Lions  and  Bears  were  baited  with  dogs,  with 
which  James  I.  and  his  court  were  much  delighted. 
A  Lion  was  named  after  the  reigning  King  ;  and  it 
was  popularly  believed  that  "  when  the  King  dies,  the 
Lion  of  that  name  dies  after  him."  The  last  of  the 
Tower  animals  were  transferred  to  the  Zoological 
Society's  menagerie,  in  the  Regent Vp ark,  in  1834. 
The  Tower  menagerie  is  well  described  in  a  hand- 
some volume,  with  woodcut  portraits,  by  William 
Harvey. 

The  punishment  of  being  thrown  to  Lions  is  stated 
as  common  among  the  Romans  of  the  first  century ; 
and  numerous  tales  are  extant,  in  which  the  fierce 
animals  became  meek  and  lamb-like  before  the  holy 
virgins  of  the  Church.  This,  indeed,  is  the  origin 
of  the  superstition,  nowhere  more  beautifully  ex- 
pressed than  in  Lord  Byron's  "  Siege  of  Corinth  " : — 

"  'Tis  said  that  a  Lion  will  turn  and  flee 
From  a  maid  in  the  pride  of  her  purity." 


142  LION-TALK. 

Every  wild  beast  show  almost  has  its  tame  Lion, 
with  which  the  keeper  takes  the  greatest  liberties ; 
liberties  which  the  beast  will  suffer,  generally  speak- 
ing, from  none  but  him.  Major  Smith  relates  that 
he  had  seen  the  keeper  of  a  Lioness  stand  upon  the 
beast,  drag  her  round  the  cage  by  her  tail,  open  her 
jaws,  and  thrust  his  head  between  her  teeth.  Another 
keeper,  at  New  York,  had  provided  himself  with  a 
fur  cap,  the  novelty  of  which  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  Lion,  which,  making  a  sudden  grapple,  tore  the 
cap  off  his  head  as  he  passed  the  cage;  but,  per- 
ceiving that  the  keeper  was  the  person  whose  head 
he  had  thus  uncovered,  he  immediately  laid  the  cap 
down.  Wombwell,  in  his  menagerie,  had  a  fine 
Lion,  Nero,  that  allowed  strangers  to  enter  his  den, 
and  even  put  their  heads  within  his  jaws.  This 
tameness  is  not,  however,  to  be  trusted,  since  the 
natural  ferocity  of  some  Lions  is  never  safely  sub- 
dued. Lions  which  have  been  sometimes  familiar, 
have,  on  other  occasions,  been  known  to  kill  their 
keepers,  and  dart  at  those  who  have  incautiously 
approached  too  near  their  cage.  All  these  exhi- 
bitions have  been  entirely  eclipsed  by  the  feats  of 
Yan  Amburgh,  in  his  exercise  of  complete  control 
over  Lions.  The  melancholy  fate  of  "the  Lion 
Queen,"  however,  tells  of  the  fatal  result  of  her  con- 
fidence. The  Lion-killing  feats  of  Captain  Gordon 
Gumming  had  a  more  legitimate  object  in  view — to 
render  us  more  familiar  with  the  zoological  character 
of  the  Lion. 


LION-TALK.  143 

Colonization  has  scarcely  yet  extirpated  the  Lion 
in  Algeria,  where  the  French  colonists  make  fine 
sport  of  "  the  King  of  the  Beasts."  M.  Jules 
Gerard,  a  Niinroud  in  his  way,  has  been  noted  for 
his  Lion-killing  feats.  We  read  of  his  tracking  a 
large  old  Lion  in  the  Smauls  country,  one  hundred 
leagues  in  ten  days,  without  catching  a  glimpse  of 
anything  but  his  foot-prints.  At  length,  accompa- 
nied by  a  native  of  the  country  and  a  spahi,  Gerard 
took  up  his  quarters  at  the  foot  of  a  tree  upon  the 
path  which  the  old  Lion  had  taken.  It  was  moon- 
light, and  Gerard  made  out  two  Lions  sitting  about 
one  hundred  paces  off,  and  exactly  in  the  shadow 
of  the  tree.  The  Arab  lay  snoring  ten  paces  off, 
in  the  full  light  of  the  moon,  and  had,  doubtless, 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  Lions.  Gerard  ex- 
pressly forbade  the  spahi  to  wake  the  Arab.  Our 
Lion-hunter  then  got  up  the  hill  to  reconnoitre ; 
the  boldest  of  the  Lions  came  up  to  within  ten 
paces  of  Gerard,  and  fifteen  of  the  Arab  :  the  Lion's 
eye  was  fixed  on  the  latter,  and  the  second  Lion 
placed  himself  on  a  level  with,  and  four  or  five 
paces  from,  the  first.  They  proved  to  be  both  full- 
grown  Lionesses.  Gerard  took  aim  at  the  first  as 
she  came  rolling  and  roaring  down  to  the  foot  of 
the  tree.  The  Arab  was  scarcely  awakened,  when 
a  second  ball  stretched  the  Lioness  dead  upon  the 
spot.  Gerard  then  looked  out  for  the  second 
Lioness,  who  was  standing  up  within  fifteen  paces, 
looking  around  her.  He  fired,  and  she  fell  down 
roaring,  and  disappeared  in  a  field  of  maize ;  she 


144  LION-TALK. 

fell,  but  was  still  alive.  Next  morning  at  day- 
break, at  the  spot  where  the  Lioness  had  fallen, 
were  blood  marks,  denoting  her  track  in  the  direc- 
tion of  a  wood.  After  sending  off  the  dead  Lioness, 
Gerard  returned  to  his  post  of  the  preceding  night. 
A  little  after  sunset  the  Lion  roared  in  his  lair,  and 
continued  roaring  all  night.  Convinced  that  the 
wounded  Lioness  was  there,  Gerard  sent  two  Arabs 
to  explore  the  cover,  but  they  durst  not.  He  next 
evening  reached  the  lair,  taking  with  him  a  goat, 
which  he  left  with  the  Arabs  :  the  Lioness  appeared, 
Gerard  fired,  and  she  fell  without  a  struggle  ;  she 
was  believed  dead,  but  she  got  up  again  as  though 
nothing  was  the  matter,  and  showed  all  her  teeth. 
One  of  the  Arabs,  within  six  paces  of  her,  seeing 
her  get  up,  clung  to  the  lower  branches  of  a  tree 
and  disappeared  like  a  squirrel.  The  Lioness  fell 
dead  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  a  second  bullet  piercing 
her  heart :  the  first  had  passed  out  of  the  nape  of 
the  neck  without  breaking  the  skull-bone. 

The  Lions  presented  by  Lord  Prudhoe  to  the 
British  Museum  are  the  best  sculptured  representa- 
tions of  the  animal  in  this  country.  Although  the 
Lion  is  our  national  hieroglyphic,  and  there  are 
many  statues  of  him,  yet  not  one  among  them  all 
appears  without  a  defect,  which  makes  our  repre- 
sentations of  him  belong  to  the  class  canis  instead  of 
felis,  a  fault  not  found  in  any  Egyptian  sculpture.* 

*  Bonomi  ;  «'  Proc.  Eoyal  Soc.,  Literature." 


BIED-LIFE. 


"  Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air  :  for  they  sow  not,  neither  do 
they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns  ;  yet  your  Heavenly  Father 
feedeth  them."— Matthew  vi.  26. 

"  Free  tenants  of  land,  air,  and  ocean, 
Their  forms  all  symmetry,  their  motions  grace  ; 
In  plumage  delicate  and  beautiful, 
Thick  without  burthen,  close  as  fishes'  scales, 
Or  loose  as  full-blown  poppies  on  the  gales  ; 
With  wings  that  seem  as  they'd  a  soul  within  them, 
They  bear  their  owners  with  such  sweet  enchantment." 

James  Montgomery. 

[TEDS,  as  regards  structure,  are  perhaps  the 
most  perfectly  endowed,  as  they  are  cer- 
tainly the  most  beautiful  and  interesting,  of 
all  the  lower  animals.  In  Birds  there  is  an  ad- 
mirable mechanism  and  adaptation  both  for  gliding 
in  the  air  and  swimming  in  the  water.  They  sur- 
pass all  other  animals  in  the  faculty  of  continuing 
their  motion  without  resting,  as  well  as  in  its 
rapidity.  The  fleetest  courser  can  scarcely  ever  run 
more  than  a  mile  in  a  minute,  nor  support  that 
speed  beyond  five  or  six  such  exertions.  But  the 


146  BIRD-LIFE. 

joyous  Swallow  does  this  tenfold  for  pleasure.  In 
his  usual  way  he  flies  at  the  rate  of  one  mile  in  a 
minute ;  and  Wilson,  the  ornithologist,  ascertained 
that  the  Swallow  is  so  engaged  for  ten  hours  every 
day.  So  can  the  Blue-bird  of  America,  for  a  space 
of  600  miles.  Our  Carrier-pigeons  move  with  half 
that  celerity :  one  flew  from  Liskeard  to  London, 
220  miles,  in  six  hours.  The  Golden  Eagle  is  sup- 
posed to  dart  through  the  fiercest  storm  at  the  rate 
of  160  miles  an  hour ;  but  one  of  our  smallest  Birds, 
the  Swift,  can  even  quadruple  the  most  excited 
quickness  of  the  race-horse  for  a  distance.  Spallan- 
zani  thought  that  the  little  Swift  travelled  at  the 
rate  of  250  miles  an  hour. 

Inquiries  into  the  phenomena  of  the  flight  of 
Birds  would  lead  us  far  beyond  our  limits.  The 
subject  is  beset  with  error.  Thus,  we  read  : — "Every 
one  has  remarked  the  manner  in  which  Birds  of  prey 
float,  as  it  were,  without  any  effort,  and  with  steady 
expanded  wings,  at  great  heights  in  the  atmosphere. 
This  they  are  enabled  to  do  from  the  quantity  of  air 
contained  in  the  air-cells  of  their  bodies,  which  air 
being  taken  in  at  a  low  level  in  the  atmosphere,  of 
course  rarefies  and  expands  as  the  Bird  ascends  into 
higher  regions.  Their  rapidity  of  descent  must  be 
accomplished  by  the  sudden  expulsion  of  this  air, 
aided  by  their  muscular  efforts." 

Now,  Dr.  Crisp  has  read  to  the  Zoological  Society  a 
paper  "  On  the  Presence  or  Absence  of  Air  in  the 
Bones  of  Birds,"  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the 
prevailing  error  upon  the  subject — viz.,  "  that  the 


BIRD-LIFE.  147 

bones  of  the  Bird  are  filled  with  air."  Of  fifty-two 
British  Birds  recently  dissected  by  him,  only  one, 
the  Sparrow-hawk,  had  the  bones  generally  perfo- 
rated for  the  admission  of  air.  In  thirteen  others, 
the  humeri  only  were  hollow,  and  among  these  were 
several  Birds  of  short  flight.  In  the  remaining 
thirty-eight,  neither  the  humeri  nor  femora  con- 
tained air,  although  in  this  list  were  several  Birds 
of  passage  and  of  rapid  flight — Dr.  Crisp's  conclu- 
sion being,  that  the  majority  of  British  Birds  have 
no  air  in  their  bones,  and  that,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Falcons,  but  very  few  British  Birds  have 
hollow  femora. 

Mr.  Gould  records  a  most  remarkable  instance  of 
rapid  and  sustained  flight,  which  he  witnessed  on  his 
return  from  North  America,  whither  he  had  pro- 
ceeded for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  habits  and 
manners  of  the  species  of  Trochilus  (Humming  Bird), 
frequenting  that  portion  of  America.  Having  re- 
marked that  he  arrived  just  prior  to  the  period  of  the 
migration  of  this  Bird  from  Mexico  to  the  north, 
and  had  ample  opportunities  for  observing  it  in  a 
state  of  nature,  he  noticed  that  its  actions  were  very 
peculiar,  and  quite  different  from  those  of  all  other 
birds :  the  flight  is  performed  by  a  motion  of  the 
wings  so  rapid  as  to  be  almost  imperceptible;  in- 
deed, the  muscular  power  of  this  little  creature 
appears  to  be  very  great  in  every  respect,  as,  inde- 
pendently of  its  rapid  and  sustained  flight,  it  grasps 
the  small  twigs,  flowers,  &c.,  upon  which  it  alights 
K  2 


148  BIRD-LIFE. 

with  the  utmost  tenacity.  It  appears  to  be  most 
active  in  the  morning  and  evening,  and  to  pass  the 
middle  of  the  day  in  a  state  of  sleepy  torpor.  Occa- 
sionally it  occurs  in  such  numbers  that  fifty  or  sixty 
birds  maybe  seen  in  a  single  tree.  When  captured 
it  so  speedily  becomes  tame  that  it  will  feed  from  the 
hand  or  mouth  within  half  an  hour.  Mr.  Gould 
having  been  successful  in  keeping  a  Humming-Bird 
alive  in  a  gauze  bag  attached  to  his  breast  button  for 
three  days,  during  which  it  readily  fed  from  a  bottle 
filled  with  a  syrup  of  brown  sugar  and  water,  he  de- 
termined to  make  an  attempt  to  bring  some  living 
examples  to  England,  in  which  he  succeeded;  but 
unfortunately  they  did  not  long  survive  their  arrival. 
The  adaptation  of  colour  in  Birds  to  their  haunts 
strikingly  tends  to  their  preservation.  The  small 
Birds  which  frequent  hedges  have  backs  of  a 
brownish  or  brownish-green  hue ;  and  their  bellies 
are  generally  whitish,  or  light-coloured,  so  as  to 
harmonise  with  the  sky.  Thus,  they  become  less 
visible  to  the  hawk  or  cat  that  passes  above  or 
below  them.  The  wayfarer  across  the  fields  also 
treads  upon  the  Skylark  before  he  sees  it  warbling 
to  heaven's  gate.  The  Goldfinch  or  Thistlefinch  passes 
much  of  its  time  among  flowers,  and  is  vividly  coloured 
accordingly.  The  Partridge  can  hardly  be  distin- 
guished from  the  fallow  or  stubble  among  which  it 
crouches;  and  it  is  considered  an  accomplishment 
among  sportsmen  to  have  a  good  eye  for  finding  a 
Hare  sitting.  In  northern  countries  the  winter  dress 


BIRD-LIFE.  149 

of  the  Hares  and  Ptarmigans  is  white,  to  prevent 
detection  among  the  snows  of  those  inclement 
regions. 

The  Song  of  Birds  is  popularly  explained  by  the 
author  of  a  work,  entitled,  "  The  Music  of  Nature," 
in  which  he  illustrates  the  vocal  machinery  of 
Birds  as  follows  : — "  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  so 
small  a  creature  as  a  Bird  making  a  tone  as  loud 
as  some  animal  a  thousand  times  its  size ;  but  a 
recent  discovery  shows  that  in  birds  the  lungs  have 
several  openings  communicating  with  corresponding 
air-bags  or  cells,  which  fill  the  whole  cavity  of  the 
body  from  the  neck  downward,  and  into  which  the 
air  passes  and  repasses  in  the  progress  of  breathing. 
This  is  not  all.  The  very  bones  are  hollow,  from 
which  air-pipes  are  conveyed  to  the  most  solid  parts 
of  the  body,  even  into  the  quills  and  feathers.  The 
air  being  rarefied  by  the  heat  of  their  body,  adds  to 
their  levity.  By  forcing  the  air  out  of  their  body, 
they  can  dart  down  from  the  greatest  heights  with 
astonishing  velocity.  No  doubt  the  same  machinery 
forms  the  basis  of  their  vocal  powers,  and  at  once 
resolves  the  mystery  into  a  natural  ordering  of  parts/' 
This  is  a  very  pretty  story ;  but,  unfortunately,  it  is 
not  correct,  as  already  shown. 

A  correspondent  of  the  "  Athenaeum,"  writing  in 
1866,  says  : — "  He  would  be  a  bold  man  who  should 
say  that  Birds  have  no  delight  in  their  own  songs. 
I  have  been  led  to  conclude  from  experiments  which 
I  have  made,  and  from  other  observations,  that  cer- 
tain animals,  especially  Birds,  have  not  only  an  ear 


150  BIRD-LIFE. 

for  fine  sounds,  but  also  a  preference  for  the  things 
they  see  out  of  respect  to  fine  colours  or  other  pleas- 
ing external  features.  It  is  chiefly  among  Birds, 
when  we  consider  the  case  of  animals,  that  a  taste 
for  ornament  and  for  glittering  objects,  often  very 
startling  and  human-like,  is  to  be  found.  The  habits 
of  the  Pheasant,  Peacock,  Turkey,  Bird  of  Paradise, 
several  Birds  of  the  Pigeon  and  Crow  kind,  and 
certain  Singing  Birds,  are  evidence.  The  Australian 
Satin  Bower-Bird  is  the  most  remarkable  of  that 
class  which  exhibit  taste  for  beauty  or  for  glittering 
objects  out  of  themselves — that  is,  beauty  not  directly 
personal ;  collecting,  in  fact,  little  museums  of  shells, 
gaudy  feathers,  shining  glass,  or  bits  of  coloured 
cloth  or  pottery.  It  will  be  found  with  many  Birds 
that  fine  plumes,  a  mirror,  and  an  admirer,  are  not 
altogether  objects  devoid  of  interest. 

"  Another  consideration  leading  me  to  the  same 
conclusion,  is  the  fact,  that  beauty  in  animals  is 
placed  on  prominent  parts,  or  on  parts  which  by 
erection  or  expansion  are  easily,  and  at  the  pairing 
season,  frequently  rendered  prominent,  such  as  a 
crest  or  tail.  A  spangle  of  ruby  or  emerald  does 
not  exist,  for  instance,  on  the  side  under  the  wing, 
which  is  seldom  raised,  of  our  domestic  poultry. 
Such  jewels  are  hung  where  man  himself  wears  his,  on 
the  face  and  forehead,  or  court  attention,  like  our  own 
crowns,  trains,  shoulder-knots,  breast-knots,  painted 
cheeks,  or  jewelled  ears.  I  cannot  account  for  the 
existence  of  these  gaudy  ornaments  to  please  man, 
for  nowhere  are  they  more  gorgeous  than  in  Birds 


BIRD-LIFE.  151 

which,  live  in  the  depth  of  the  tropical  forest,  where 
man  is  rarely  a  visitor;  I  cannot  account  for  them 
on  the  principle  that  they  do  good  to  their  possessors 
in  the  battle  for  life,  because  they  rather  render  them 
conspicuous  to  their  enemies,  or  coveted  by  man." 
But  the  beauty  of  these  beings  glows  most  brightly 
at  the  season  of  their  pairing,  and  the  selection  of 
their  mates. 

Baron  von  Tschudi,  the  Swiss  naturalist,  has 
shown  the  important  services  of  Birds  in  the  de- 
struction of  insects.  Without  Birds,  no  agriculture 
or  vegetation  would  be  possible.  They  accomplish  in 
a  few  months  the  profitable  work  of  destruction  which 
millions  of  human  hands  could  not  do  half  so  well  in 
as  many  years ;  and  the  sage,  therefore,  blamed  in 
very  severe  terms  the  foolish  practice  of  shooting 
and  destroying  Birds,  which  prerails  more  especially 
in  Italy,  recommending,  on  the  contrary,  the  process 
of  alluring  Birds  into  gardens  and  cornfields.  Among 
the  most  deserving  Birds  he  counts  Swallows,  Finches, 
Titmice,  Eedtails,  &c.  The  naturalist  then  cites  nu- 
merous instances  in  support  of  his  assertion.  In  a 
flower-garden  of  one  of  his  neighbours  three  rose- 
trees  had  been  suddenly  covered  with  about  2,000 
tree-lice.  At  his  recommendation  a  Marsh-Titmouse 
was  located  in  the  garden,  which  in  a  few  hours  con- 
sumed the  whole  brood,  and  left  the  roses  perfectly 
clean.  A  Bedtail  in  a  room  was  observed  to  catch 
about  900  flies  in  an  hour.  A  couple  of  Night- 
Swallows  have  been  known  to  destroy  a  whole  swarm 
of  gnats  in  fifteen  minutes.  A  pair  of  Golden- 


152  BIRD-LIFE. 

crested  Wrens  carry  insects  as  food  to  their  nestlings 
upon  an  average  thirty-six  times  in  an  hour.  For 
the  protection  of  orchards  and  woods  Titmice  are  of 
invaluable  service.  They  consume,  in  particular,  the 
eggs  of  the  dangerous  pine-spiders.  One  single 
female  of  such  spiders  frequently  lays  from  600  to 
800  eggs  twice  in  the  summer  season,  while  a  Tit- 
mouse with  her  young  ones  consume  daily  several 
thousands  of  them.  Wrens,  Nuthatches,  and  Wood- 
peckers often  dexterously  fetch  from  the  crevices  of 
tree-hark  numbers  of  insects  for  their  nestlings. 

Yet,  profitless  and  wanton  Bird-murder  is  common. 
The  cliifs  on  the  coasts  of  these  islands  are  the  resort 
of  numerous  kinds  of  Sea-Fowl,  and  these  Fowl,  we 
are  told,  are  slaughtered  by  thousands,  not  merely 
for  the  sake  of  their  feathers,  but  actually  for  the 
mere  savage  pleasure  of  killing.  What  speculation 
can  enter  into  such  a  proceeding  it  may  puzzle  the 
reader  to  imagine ;  but  it  seems  that  the  wing  fea- 
thers of  the  poor  White  Gull  are  now  inquired  for  in 
the  plume-trade,  and  we  are  actually  told  of  an  order 
given  by  a  single  house  for  10,000  of  these  unhappy 
Birds.  When  these  facts  were  stated  at  the  Meeting 
of  the  British  Association,  in  August,  1868,  at  Nor- 
wich, a  lady  stood  up  boldly  in  defence  of  her  sex, 
and  declared  that  they  sinned  only  through  igno- 
rance, and  would  never  willingly  wear  the  feathers 
of  a  Bird  destroyed  in  the  act  of  feeding  its  young. 
That  part  of  the  case,  therefore,  ought  to  be  now  in 
safe  hands.  In  the  Isle  of  Man  a  law  has  been 
passed,  called  the  "  Seagull  Preservation  Act,"  pro- 


BIRD-LIFE.  153 

tecting  these  Birds  by  heavy  penalties,  on  the  ground 
of  their  utility  in  removing  fish  offal  and  guiding 
fishermen  to  shoals  of  fish.  At  a  certain  point  of 
our  shores  a  similar  protection  has  been  established. 
A  visitor  to  the  South  Stack  Lighthouse,  on  the 
coast  of  Anglesey,  may  see  prodigious  numbers  of 
Sea-Fowl  as  tame  as  complete  safety  can  make  them. 
It  has  been  ascertained  that  in  thick  weather,  when 
neither  light  can  be  distinguished  nor  signal  seen, 
the  incessant  scream  of  these  Birds  gives  the  best  of 
all  warnings  to  the  mariner  of  the  vicinity  of  the 
rock.  The  noise  they  make  can  be  heard  at  a  greater 
distance  than  the  tolling  of  the  great  bell ;  and  so 
valuable  was  this  danger-signal  considered,  that  an 
order  from  the  Trinity  House  forbad  even  the  firing 
of  the  warning  gun,  lest  the  colony  of  the  Sea-Fowl 
should  be  disturbed.  The  signals  of  the  bell  and  the 
cannon  might  be  neglected  or  overpowered,  but  the 
Birds  were  always  there  and  always  audible. 

It  is  inferred  that  Birds  possess  some  notion  of 
power,  and  of  cause  and  effect,  from  the  various 
actions  which  they  perform.  "  Thus,"  relates  Dr. 
Fleming,  "  we  have  seen  the  Hooded  Crow  in  Zet- 
land, when  feeding  on  small  shell-fish,  able  to  break 
some  of  the  tenderer  kinds  by  means  of  its  bill, 
aided  in  some  cases  by  beating  them  against  a  stone ; 
but,  as  some  of  the  larger  shells,  such  as  the  buckie  and 
the  welk,  cannot  be  broken  by  such  means,  the  Crow 
employs  another  method,  by  which,  in  consequence 
of  applying  foreign  power,  it  accomplishes  its  object. 
Seizing  the  shell  with  its  claws,  it  mounts  up  into 


154  BIRD-LIFE. 

the  air,  and  then  loosing  its  hold,  causes  the  shell  to 
fall  among  stones  (in  preference  to  the  sand,  the 
water,  or  the  soil  on  the  ground),  that  it  may  be 
broken,  and  give  easier  access  to  the  contained  ani- 
mal. Should  the  first  attempt  fail,  a  second  or 
third  is  tried,  with  this  difference,  that  the  Crow 
rises  higher  in  the  air,  in  order  to  increase  the  power 
of  the  fall,  and  more  effectually  remove  the  barrier 
to  the  contained  morsel.  On  such  occasions  we  have 
seen  a  strong  Bird  remain  an  apparently  inattentive 
spectator  of  the  process  of  breaking  the  shell,  but 
coming  to  the  spot  with  astonishing  keenness  when 
the  efforts  of  its  neighbour  had  been  successful,  in 
order  to  share  the  spoil.  Pennant  mentions  similar 
operations  performed  by  Crows  on  mussels." 

The  brain  of  Birds  is,  in  general,  large  in  propor- 
tion to  the  size  of  the  body,  and  the  instinctive 
powers  are  very  perfect.  A  few  kinds  are  rather 
dull  and  stupid  ;  but  the  Parrot,  Magpie,  Raven,  and 
many  others,  show  great  vivacity  and  quickness  of 
intellect.  The  Raven  has  a  great  deal  of  humour  in 
him.  One,  a  most  amusing  and  mischievous  creature, 
would  get  into  a  well-stocked  flower-garden,  go  to 
the  beds  where  the  gardener  had  sowed  a  great 
variety  of  seeds,  with  sticks  put  in  the  ground  with 
labels,  and  then  he  would  amuse  himself  with  pulling 
up  every  stick,  and  laying  them  in  heaps  of  ten  or 
twelve  on  the  path.  This  used  to  irritate  the  old 
gardener,  who  drove  him  away.  The  Raven  knew 
that  he  ought  not  to  do  it,  or  he  would  not  have 
done  it.  He  would  soon  return  to  his  mischief,  and 


BIRD-LIFE.  155 

when  the  gardener  again  chased  him  (the  old  man 
could  not  run  very  fast),  the  Eaven  would  just  keep 
clear  of  the  rake  or  the  hoe  in  his  hand,  dancing 
before  him,  and  singing  as  plainly  as  a  Haven  could, 
"Tol  de  rol  de  rol!  tol  de  rol  de  roll"  with  all 
kinds  of  mimicking  gestures. 

The  signal  of  danger  among  Birds  seems  to  be  of 
universal  comprehension ;  because  the  instant  it  is 
uttered  we  hear  the  whole  flock,  though  composed  of 
various  species,  repeat  a  separate  moan,  and  away 
they  all  scuttle  into  the  bushes  for  safety.  The  sen 
tinel  Birds  give  the  signal,  but  in  some  cases  they 
are  deceived  by  false  appearances.  Dr.  Edmonstone, 
in  his  "  Yiew  of  the  Zetland  Isles,"  relates  a  very 
striking  illustration  of  the  neglect  of  the  sentinel,  in 
his  remarks  on  the  Shag.  "  Great  numbers  of  this 
species  of  the  Cormorant  are  sometimes  taken  during 
the  night,  while  asleep  on  the  rocks  of  easy  access  ; 
but  before  they  commit  themselves  to  sleep,  one  or 
two  of  the  number  are  appointed  to  watch.  Until 
these  sentinels  are  secured,  it  is  impossible  to  make 
a  successful  impression  on  the  whole  body ;  to  sur- 
prise them  is,  therefore,  the  first  object.  With  this 
view,  the  leader  of  the  expedition  creeps  cautiously 
and  imperceptibly  along  the  rock,  until  he  gets 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  watch.  He  then  dips  a 
worsted  glove  into  the  sea,  and  gently  throws  water 
in  the  face  of  the  guard.  The  unsuspecting  Bird, 
either  disliking  the  impression,  or  fancying,  from 
what  he  considers  to  be  a  disagreeable  state  of  the 


156  B1KD-LIFE. 

weather,  that  all  is  quiet  and  safe,  puts  his  head 
under  his  wing  and  soon  falls  asleep.  His  neck  is 
then  immediately  broken,  and  the  party  dispatch 
as  many  as  they  choose." 

Addison  was  a  true  lover  of  nature,  which  he 
shows  in  two  letters  written  by  him  to  the  Earl  of 
Warwick  (afterwards  his  son-in-law),  when  that 
nobleman  was  very  young.  "  My  dear  Lord,"  he 
writes,  "  I  have  employed  the  whole  neighbourhood 
in  looking  after  Birds'-nests,  and  not  altogether 
without  success.  My  man  found  one  last  night,  but 
it  proved  a  hen's,  with  fifteen  eggs  in  it,  covered 
with  an  old  broody  Duck,  which  may  satisfy  your 
Lordship's  curiosity  a  little ;  though  I  am  afraid  the 
eggs  will  be  of  little  use  to  us.  This  morning  I 
have  news  brought  me  of  a  nest  that  has  abundance 
of  little  eggs,  streaked  with  red  and  blue  veins,  that, 
by  the  description  they  give  me,  must  make  a  very 
beautiful  figure  in  a  string.  My  neighbours  are  very 
much  divided  in  their  opinions  upon  them  :  some  say 
they  are  a  Skylark's ;  others  will  have  them  to  be 
a  Canary-Bird's;  but  I  am  much  mistaken  in  the 
colour  and  turn  of  the  eggs  if  they  are  not  full  of 
Tomtit's."  Again,  Addison  writes  : — "  Since  I  am 
so  near  your  Lordship,  methinks,  after  having  passed 
the  day  amid  more  severe  studies,  you  may  often 
take  a  trip  hither  and  relax  yourself  with  these  little 
curiosities  of  nature.  I  assure  you  no  less  a  man 
than  Cicero  commends  the  two  great  friends  of  his 
age,  Scipio  and  Lselius,  for  entertaining  themselves 


BIRD-LIFE.  157 

at  their  country-house,  which  stood  on  the  sea-shore, 
with  picking  up  cockle-shells,  and  looking  after 
Birds'-nests." 

In  another  letter  Addison  writes  : — "The  business 
of  this  is  to  invite  you  to  a  concert  of  music  which  I 
have  found  out  in  a  neighbouring  wood.  It  begins 
precisely  at  six  in  the  evening,  and  consists  of  a 
Blackbird,  a  Thrush,  a  Robin-Redbreast,  and  a  Bull- 
finch. There  is  a  Lark,  that,  by  way  of  overture, 
sings  and  mounts  till  she  is  almost  out  of  hearing ; 
and  afterwards,  falling  down  leisurely,  drops  to  the 
ground  as  soon  as  she  has  ended  her  song.  The 
whole  is  concluded  by  a  Nightingale,  that  has  a 
much  better  voice  than  Mrs.  Tofts,  and  something 
of  the  Italian  manner  in  her  divisions.  If  your 
Lordship  will  honour  me  with  your  company,  I  will 
promise  to  entertain  you  with  much  better  music, 
and  more  agreeable  scenes,  than  you  ever  met  with 
at  the  Opera ;  and  will  conclude  with  a  charming 
description  of  a  Nightingale  out  of  our  friend 
Virgil:- 

"  *  So  close,  in  poplar  shades,  her  children  gone, 
The  mother  Nightingale  laments  alone  ; 
Whose  nest  some  prying  churl  had  found,  and  thence 
By  stealth  convey'd  the  unfeathered  innocence  : 
But  she  supplies  the  night  with  mournful  strains, 
And  melancholy  music  fills  the  plains.'  " 


BIEDS'  EGGS  AND  NESTS. 


|HE  Eggs  of  Birds  are  variously  tinted  and 
mottled,  and  hence  they  become  objects  of 
interest  to  the  collector.  In  this  diversity 
of  colour  nature  has,  doubtless,  some  final  object  in 
view ;  and  though  not  in  every  instance,  yet  in  many, 
we  can  certainly  see  a  design  in  the  adaptation  of  the 
colours  to  the  purpose  of  concealment,  according  to 
the  habits  of  the  various  classes  of  Birds.  Thus,  as 
a  general  rule,  the  Eggs  of  Birds  which  have  their 
nests  in  dark  holes,  or  which  construct  nests  that 
almost  completely  exclude  the  light,  are  white ;  as  is 
also  the  case  with  those  Birds  that  constantly  sit  on 
their  Eggs,  or  leave  them  only  for  a  short  time 
during  the  night.  Eggs  of  a  light  blue  or  light 
green  tint  will  also  be  found  in  nests  that  are  other- 
wise well  concealed ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
great  proportion  of  those  nests  that  are  in  exposed 
situations  have  Eggs  varying  in  tints  and  spots  in  a 
remarkable  degree,  corresponding  with  the  colours  of 
external  objects  in  their  immediate  neighbourhood. 


BIRDS*    EGGS   AND    NESTS.  159 

Thus,  a  dull  green  colour  is  common  in  most  galli- 
naceous Birds  that  form  their  nests  in  grass,  and  in 
aquatic  Birds  among  green  hedges ;  a  bright  green 
colour  is  prevalent  among  Birds  that  nestle  among 
trees  and  bushes ;  and  a  brown  mottled  colour  is 
found  in  those  Eggs  that  are  deposited  among  furze, 
heath,  shingle,  and  grey  rocks  and  stones. 

Birds'-nesting,  we  need  hardly  remark,  is  a 
favourite  pursuit  of  boyhood ;  but,  in  some  cases, 
its  attractions  have  induced  young  persons  to  take 
up  more  important  branches  of  natural  history,  or 
the  collection,  systematic  arrangement,  and  com- 
parison of  Birds'  Eggs,  which  is,  in  scientific  study, 
termed  Oology ;  and  as  the  study  of  Birds  cannot  be 
considered  complete  until  they  are  known  in  every 
stage,  it  forms  a  branch  of  Ornithology.  In  this 
case  Birds'-nesting  has  an  useful  object ;  but  many 
persons  are  content  to  acquire  collections  of  Eggs 
without  troubling  themselves  about  the  Birds  which 
have  laid  them. 

The  late  Mr.  John  "Wolley,  M.A.,  was  one  of  the 
leading  authorities  upon  the  subject  of  European 
Ornithology,  and  was  one  of  a  number  of  University 
men,  who,  about  twelve  years  ago,  established  the 
ornithological  journal  called  "The  Ibis/'  and  who 
visited  far-distant  and  unexplored  regions,  where 
they  might  hope  to  discover  strange  Birds  and  un- 
known Eggs.  For  several  years  Algiers  and  Tunis 
were  their  favourite  resorts,  and  the  meeting-places 
of  many  of  our  rarer  Birds  were  hunted  up  in  these 


160  BIRDS'  EGGS  AND  NESTS. 

countries,  even  so  far  as  the  Desert  of  the  Great 
Sahara.  Others  preferred  the  New  World  as  the 
scene  of  their  labours,  and  collected  long  series  of 
specimens  in  the  highland  of  Guatemala,  and  the 
tropical  forests  of  Belize.  Mr.  Wolley,  however, 
confined  his  attention  principally  to  the  northern 
parts  of  Europe — that  region  being  the  breeding- 
quarters  of  a  large  number  of  Birds  which  are  only 
known  in  this  country  as  winter  visitants.  In  order 
to  be  at  his  collecting-station  at  Muonioniska,  on  the 
frontier  of  Finnish  Lapland,  at  the  earliest  com- 
mencement of  the  breeding-season,  Mr.  Wolley  fre- 
quently passed  the  whole  winter  in  that  remote 
region.  But  the  rigour  of  the  climate  under  the 
Arctic  Circle  contributed  to  bring  on  a  malady  which 
terminated  fatally  in  November,  1859. 

Upon  the  decease  of  Mr.  Wolley,  his  large  collec- 
tion of  Birds'  Eggs,  in  accordance  with  his  last  wishes, 
became  the  property  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Alfred  New- 
ton, who  is  publishing  a  Catalogue  of  Mr.  Wolley 's 
Egg  Cabinet,  with  notes  from  the  deceased  na- 
turalist's journals.  The  first  part  contains  the  Eggs 
of  Birds  of  Prey  (Accipitres),  recognisable  at  once  by 
their  strongly-hooked  bill,  formed  to  assist  them  in 
tearing  their  prey,  and  their  large  feet  and  sharpened 
claws,  which  aid  them  to  grasp  it.  They  are  divisible 
into  two  very  distinct  groups — the  diurnal  Birds 
of  Prey,  consisting  of  the  Hawks,  Yultures,  and 
Eagles ;  and  the  nocturnal  Birds  of  Prey,  or  Owls. 
In  the  latter  the  Eggs  are  invariably  colourless ;  in 


161 

the  former  they  are  often  strongly  marked,  and  pre- 
sent some  of  the  most  beautiful  objects  in  the  whole 
series  of  Birds'  Eggs. 

In  the  most  recently  published  list  of  European 
birds  fifty-two  species  of  birds  of  prey  are  given  as 
occurring  more  or  less  frequently  within  the  limits 
of  our  continent.  Of  the  three  generally-recognised 
species  of  European  Vultures  two  are  well  repre- 
sented, as  regards  their  eggs,  in  the  Wolleyan 
series.  A  few  years  ago  the  nesting  of  all  these 
birds  was  utterly  unknown  to  naturalists,  and  it  was 
mainly  through  the  exertions  of  Mr.  Wolley  and 
his  friends  that  specimens  first  reached  our  col- 
lectors' cabinets.  Here  were  found  both  the  Egyp- 
tian Vulture  and  the  Griffon  breeding  abundantly 
in  the  Eastern  Atlas  in  1857;  and  the  eyries  of 
these  birds  have  since  been  visited  by  other  col- 
lectors in  the  same  country.  The  Eggs  of  the 
former  of  these  Vultures  are  remarkable  for  their 
deep  and  rich  coloration.  The  productions  of  the 
Griffon  are  not  nearly  so  handsome,  and  are  occa- 
sionally altogether  destitute  of  markings.  Of  the 
Eagles  of  Europe  the  series  of  Eggs  is  very  full, 
especially  of  the  two  well-known  British  species — the 
Golden  Eagle  and  Sea  Eagle.  The  Golden  or 
Mountain  Eagle  is  even  now-a-days  much  more 
common  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  British  islands 
than  is  usually  supposed  to  be  the  case.  In  1852 
Mr.  Wolley  was  acquainted  with  five  nests  of  this 
bird  in  various  parts  of  Scotland,  and  there  were 
undoubtedly  at  least  as  many  more  of  which  he  did 

L 


162  BIRDS'  EGGS  AND  NESTS 

not  learn  the  particulars.  The  eyrie  is  usually 
placed  in  some  mountainous  district,  on  the  ledge 
of  some  "  warm-looking  "  rock,  well  clothed  with 
vegetation,  and  often  by  no  means  wild  or  exposed. 
Not  unfrequently,  under  proper  guidance,  one  can 
walk  into  the  nest  almost  without  climbing.  Mr. 
Newton  gives  a  very  entertaining  account  of  the 
taking  of  a  pair  of  eggs  from  a  nest  in  Argyllshire 
in  1861,  where  this  seems  to  have  been  the  case. 
In  the  whole  ascent  there  was  only  one  "  ticklish 
place,"  where  it  was  necessary  to  go  sideways  on  a 
narrow  ledge  round  some  rocks.  The  Sea  Eagle,  on 
the  other  hand,  generally  breeds  on  the  high  cliffs 
upon  the  coast,  often  selecting  the  most  inaccessible 
position  for  its  eyrie.  Sometimes,  however,  it  will 
choose  an  island  in  the  middle  of  an  inland  loch, 
and  in  such  case  places  its  nest  upon  the  ground  or 
in  a  tree. 

Mr.  Wolley's  well-written  notes  of  his  adventures 
in  quest  of  both  these  Eagles,  as  also  those  relating 
to  the  other  rapacious  birds,  will  be  read  with  much 
interest ;  as  will  also  the  details  concerning  the 
nesting-habits  of  many  of  the  rarer  species  of 
European  birds,  several  of  which,  such  as  the 
Rough-legged  Buzzard  and  the  Lapp  Owl,  were 
first  tracked  to  their  breeding-quarters  in  the  re- 
motest wilds  of  Scandinavia  by  this  indefatigable 
naturalist.* 

Of  large  Eggs  we  are  most  familiar  with  those  of 
the  Ostrich,  of  which  Mr.  Burchell,  when  in  Africa, 
*  Abridged  from  the  "  Saturday  Keview." 


163 

found  twenty-five  Eggs  in  a  hollow  scratched  in  the 
sand,  six  feet  in  diameter,  surrounded  by  a  trench, 
but  without  grass,  leaves,  or  sticks,  as  in  the  nests 
of  other  birds.  In  the  trench  were  nine  more  Eggs, 
intended,  as  the  Hottentots  observed,  as  the  first 
food  of  the  twenty-five  young  Ostriches.  Between 
sixty  and  seventy  Eggs  have  been  found  in  one 
nest ;  each  is  equal  to  twenty-four  Eggs  of  the 
domestic  hen,  and  holds  five  pints  and  a  quarter  of 
liquid.  The  shells  are  dirty  white.  The  Hottentots 
string  them  together  as  belts,  or  garlands,  and  they 
are  frequently  mounted  as  cups.  One  Ostrich  Egg 
is  a  sufficient  meal  for  three  persons.  The  Egg  is 
cooked  over  the  fire  without  either  pot  or  water,  the 
shell  answering  the  purpose  of  the  first,  and  the 
liquid  nature  of  its  contents  that  of  the  other. 

Less  familiar  to  the  reader  are  the  gigantic  Eggs 
of  the  Epyornis,  a  bird  which  formerly  lived  in 
Madagascar.  One  of  these  Eggs  contains  the  sub- 
stance of  140  hens'  Eggs.  Mr.  Geoffrey  St.  Hilaire 
describes  some  portions  of  an  Egg  of  the  Epyornis 
which  show  the  Egg  to  have  been  of  such  a  size  as 
to  be  capable  of  containing  about  ten  English 
quarts ;  that  in  the  Museum  of  the  Jardin  des 
Plantes  can  only  contain  8f  quarts.  Mr.  Strick- 
land, in  some  notices  of  the  Dodo  and  its  kindred, 
published  in  1849,  says  that  in  the  previous  year  a 
Mr.  Dumarele,  a  French  merchant  at  Bourbon,  saw 
at  Port  Leven,  Madagascar,  an  enormous  Egg 
which  held  "  thirteen  wine  quart  bottles  of  fluid." 
The  natives  stated  that  the  Egg  was  found  in  the 
L  2 


164 

jungle,  and  "  that  such  Eggs  were  very,  very  rarely 
met  with." 

A  word  or  two  about  the  nests  of  such  gigantic 
birds.  Captain  Cook  found,  on  an  island  near  the 
north-east  coast  of  New  Holland,  a  nest  "  of  a  most 
enormous  size.  It  was  built  with  sticks  upon  the 
ground,  and  was  no  less  than  six-and-twenty  feet  in 
circumference,  and  two  feet  eight  inches  high." 
(Kerr's  "  Collection  of  Voyages  and  Travels,"  xiii., 
318.)  Captain  Flinders  found  two  similar  nests  on 
the  south  coast  of  New  Holland,  in  King  George's 
Bay.  In  his  "Voyage,"  &c.,  London,  1818,  he 
says,  "They  were  built  upon  the  ground,  from 
which  they  rose  above  two  feet,  and  were  of  vast 
circumference  and  great  interior  capacity ;  the 
branches  of  trees  and  other  matter  of  which  each 
nest  was  composed  being  enough  to  fill  a  cart." 

Among  the  varieties  of  Birds'-nests  are  some  very 
curious  homes,  of  which  we  have  but  space  to  notice 
a  few.  The  pendulous  nest  of  the  Indian  Baya- 
bird  is  usually  formed  of  the  fibres  of  the  palmyra, 
the  cocoa-nut  palm,  and  wild  date  of  India,  some- 
times mixed  with  grass,  neatly  interlaced,  and  very 
strongly  made.  It  consists  of  only  one  circular 
chamber,  with  a  long  tubular  passage  leading  to  it, 
and  is  suspended  from  a  tree,  preferred  if  over- 
hanging water.  The  natives  of  India  say  the  Baya 
lights  up  its  nest  with  fire-flies.  The  bird  lays  from 
four  to  six  white  eggs.  Bayas  are  of  a  very  social 
disposition  :  numbers  build  on  the  same  tree,  or 
neighbouring  trees,  and  singing  in  concert  during 


165 

the  breeding  season.  The  Baya  is  very  docile,  and 
taught  to  fly  off  the  finger  and  return  again ;  to 
dart  after  a  ring  or  small  coin,  dropped  into  a  deep 
well,  and  catch  it  before  it  reaches  the  water;  to 
fetch  and  carry,  and  perform  similar  tricks. 

The  nest  of  the  brilliant  Golden-banded  Oriole 
is  a  hammock  of  twisted  fibrous  substances,  and  is 
suspended  in  a  low  shrub,  so  as  to  swing  to  the 
breeze.  The  twine-like  fibres  of  which  it  is  woven 
are  the  filaments  of  the  gigantic  palm.  The  threads 
break  away  from  the  leaf,  and  hang  like  fringe  to 
the  magnificent  foliage. 

The  Tailor-birds  are  the  best  nest-builders  of  all 
the  feathered  tribes.  They  interweave  their  nests 
between  the  twigs  and  branches  of  shrubs,  or  sus- 
pend the  nests  from  them ;  and  some  of  these  birds 
have  exercised  arts  from  the  creation  which  man  has 
found  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  him  since  he  dis- 
covered them.  These  birds,  indeed,  may  be  called 
the  inventors  of  the  several  arts  of  the  weaver,  the 
sempstress,  and  the  tailor ;  whence  some  of  them 
have  been  denominated  Weaver  and  Tailor  Birds. 
The  nests  of  the  latter  are,  however,  most  remark- 
able. India  produces  several  species  of  Tailor-birds 
that  sew  together  leaves  for  the  protection  of  their 
eggs  and  nestlings  from  the  voracity  of  serpents  and 
apes.  They  generally  select  the  end  of  a  branch  or 
twig,  and  sew  with  cotton,  thread,  and  fibres. 
Colonel  Sykes  has  seen  some  in  which  the  thread 
was  literally  knotted  at  the  end.  The  inside  of  these 
nests  is  lined  usually  with  down  and  cotton. 


166 

Tailor-birds  are  not  confined  to  India  or  tropical 
countries.  Italy  can  boast  a  species  which  exercises 
the  same  art.  Mr.  Gould  has  a  specimen  of  this 
bird  in  his  possession,  and  the  Zoological  Society 
have  a  nest  in  their  Museum.  This  little  bird,  a 
species  of  the  genus  sylvia,  in  summer  and  autumn 
frequents  marshes;  but  in  the  spring  it  seeks  the 
meadows  and  cornfields,  in  which,  at  that  season, 
the  marshes  being  bare  of  the  sedges  which  cover 
them  in  summer,  it  is  compelled  to  construct  its 
nest  in  tussocks  of  grass  on  the  brinks  of  ditches  ; 
but  the  leaves  of  these  being  weak,  easily  split,  so 
that  it  is  difficult  for  our  little  sempstresses  to  unite 
them,  and  so  form  the  skeleton  of  the  fabric.  From 
this  and  other  circumstances,  the  spring  nests  of  these 
birds  differ  so  widely  from  those  made  in  the  autumn 
that  it  seems  next  to  impossible  that  both  should  be 
the  work  of  the  same  artisan.  The  latter  are  con- 
structed in  a  thick  bunch  of  sedge  or  reed  :  they  are 
shaped  like  a  pear,  being  dilated  below  and  narrow 
above,  so  as  to  leave  an  aperture  sufficient  for  the 
ingress  and  egress  of  the  bird.  The  greatest  hori- 
zontal diameter  of  the  nest  is  about  two  inches  and 
a  half,  and  the  vertical  is  five  inches. 

The  most  wonderful  thing  in  the  construction  of 
these  nests  is  the  method  to  which  the  little  bird  has 
recourse  to  keep  united  the  living  leaves  of  which  it 
is  composed.  The  sole  in  the  weaving,  more  or  less 
delicate,  of  the  materials,  forms  the  principle  adopted 
by  other  birds  to  bind  together  the  walls  of  their 
nests ;  but  this  sylvia  is  no  weaver,  for  the  leaves 


167 

of  the  sedges  or  reeds  are  united  by  real  stitches. 
In  the  edge  of  each  leaf  she  makes,  probably  with 
her  beak,  minute  apertures,  through  which  she  con- 
trives to  pass,  perhaps  by  means  of  the  same  organ, 
one  or  more  cords  formed  of  spiders'  web,  particu- 
larly that  of  their  egg-pouches.  Those  threads  are 
not  very  long,  and  are  sufficient  to  pass  two  or  three 
times  from  one  leaf  to  another.  They  are  of  unequal 
thickness,  and  have  knots  here  and  therej  which,  in 
some  places,  divide  into  two  or  three  branches. 

This  is  the  manner  in  which  the  exterior  of  the 
nest  is  formed :  the  interior  consists  mainly  of  down, 
chiefly  from  plants,  a  little  spiders'  web  being  inter- 
mixed, which  helps  to  keep  the  other  substances 
together.  The  upper  part  and  sides  of  the  nest, 
that  is,  the  external  and  internal,  are  in  immediate 
contact ;  but  in  the  lower  part  a  greater  space  inter- 
venes, filled  with  the  slender  foliage  of  grasses,  and 
other  materials,  which  render  soft  and  warm  the 
bed  on  which  the  eggs  are  to  repose.  This  little 
bird  feeds  on  insects.  Its  flight  is  rectilinear,  but 
consists  of  many  curves,  with  the  concavity  upwards. 
These  curves  equal  in  number  the  strokes  of  the 
wing,  and  at  every  stroke  its  whistle  is  heard,  the 
intervals  of  which  correspond  with  the  rapidity  of 
its  flight. 

The  Australian  Bower-bird,  as  its  name  implies, 
builds  its  nest  like  an  arbour  or  bower,  with  twigs  : 
in  the  British  Museum  are  two  specimens,  each 
decorated — one  with  bones  and  fresh-water  shells, 
and  the  other  with  feathers  and  land-shells ;  remark- 


168  BIRDS'  EGGS  AND  NESTS. 

able  instances  of  taste  for  ornament  already  referred 
to  in  a  preceding  page.  The  Satin  or  Bower-bird 
is  described  by  settlers  in  Australia  as  "a  very 
troublesome  rascal,"  which  besets  gardens ;  if  once 
allowed  to  make  a  lodgment  there  it  is  very  trouble- 
some to  get  rid  of  him ;  he  signalizes  his  arrival  by 
pulling  up,  in  his  restless  fussy  way,  everything  in 
the  garden  that  he  can  tug  out  of  the  ground,  even 
to  the  little  sticks  to  mark  the  site  of  seeds.  A 
settler  had  formed  a  garden  in  the  bush ;  there  was 
no  enclosure  of  the  kind  for  miles  in  any  direction  : 
a  flock  of  Bower-birds  came;  he  got  his  gun  and 
shot  two  or  three ;  the  flock  went  off,  and  he  never 
saw  another  bird  of  the  kind. 

The  Cape  Swallows  build  nests  which  show  extra- 
ordinary instinct  allied  to  reason.  A  pair  of  these 
built  their  nest  on  the  outside  of  a  house  at  Cape 
Town  against  the  angle  formed  by  the  wall  and 
the  board  which  supported  the  eaves.  The  whole 
of  this  nest  was  covered  in,  and  it  was  furnished 
with  a  long  neck  or  passage,  through  which  the 
birds  passed  in  and  out.  It  resembled  a  longitudinal 
section  of  a  Florence  oil  flask.  This  nest  having 
crumbled  away  after  the  young  birds  had  quitted 
it,  the  same  pair,  or  another  of  the  same  species, 
built  on  the  old  foundation  again.  But  this  time 
an  improvement  was  observable  in  the  plan  of  it 
that  can  hardly  be  referred  to  the  dictates  of  mere 
instinct.  The  body  of  the  nest  was  of  the  same 
shape  as  before,  but  instead  of  a  single  passage  it 
was  furnished  with  one  at  each  side,  running  along 


BIRDS'    EGGS    AND    NESTS.  169 

the  angle  of  the  roof;  and  on  watching  the  birds, 
they  were  seen  invariably  to  go  in  at  one  passage 
and  come  out  at  the  other.  Besides  saving  them- 
selves the  trouble  of  turning  in  the  nest  and  dis- 
turbing, perhaps,  its  interior  arrangement,  they 
were  guarded  by  this  contrivance  against  a  sur- 
prise by  serpents,  which  frequently  creep  up  along 
the  wall,  or  descend  from  the  thatch,  and  devour 
both  the  mother  and  her  brood. 

Dr.  Livingstone  relates  a  very  curious  instance  of 
"  Bird  Confinement "  under  very  strange  circum- 
stances. In  passing  through  Mopane  country,  in 
South  Africa,  his  men  caught  a  great  number  of 
the  birds  called  Korwe  in  their  breeding-places, 
which  were  holes  in  the  mopane  trees.  They  passed 
the  nest  of  a  Korwe  just  ready  for  the  female  to 
enter ;  the  orifice  was  plastered  on  both  sides,  but 
a  space  was  left  of  a  heart  shape,  and  exactly  the 
size  of  the  bird's  body.  The  hole  in  the  tree  was 
in  every  case  found  to  be  prolonged  some  distance 
upwards  above  the  opening,  and  thither  the  Korwe 
always  fled  to  escape  being  caught.  In  another 
nest  that  was  found,  one  white  egg,  much  like  that 
of  a  pigeon,  was  laid,  and  the  bird  dropped  another 
when  captured  :  she  had  four  besides  in  the  ovarium. 
Dr.  Livingstone  first  saw  this  bird  at  Kolenbeng  in 
the  forest :  he  saw  a  slit  only,  about  half  an  inch 
wide  and  three  or  four  inches  long,  in  a  slight 
hollow  of  a  tree ;  a  native  broke  the  clay  which 
surrounded  the  slit,  put  his  arm  into  the  hole,  and 
brought  out  a  red-beaked  Hornbill,  which  he  killed. 
He  told  Dr.  Livingstone  that  when  the  female  enters 


170  BIRDS'  EGGS  AND  NESTS. 

her  nest  she  submits  to  a  real  confinement.  The 
male  plasters  up  the  entrance,  leaving  only  a  narrow 
slit  by  which  to  feed  his  mate,  and  which  exactly 
suits  the  form  of  his  beak.  The  female  makes  a 
nest  of  her  own  feathers,  lays  her  eggs,  hatches 
them,,  and  remains  with  the  young  till  they  are  fully 
fledged.  During  all  this  time,  which  is  stated  to  be 
two  or  three  months,  the  male  continues  to  feed  her 
and  the  young  family.  The  prisoner  generally  be- 
comes quite  fat,  and  is  esteemed  a  very  dainty  morsel 
by  the  natives;  while  the  poor  slave  of  a  husband 
gets  so  lean  that,  on  the  sudden  lowering  of  the 
temperature,  which  sometimes  happens  after  a  fall 
of  rain,  he  is  benumbed,  falls  down,  and  dies. 

Dr.  Livingstone,  on  passing  the  same  tree  at 
Kolenbeng  about  eight  days  afterwards,  found 
the  hole  plastered  up  again,  as  if,  in  the  short 
time  that  had  elapsed,  the  disconsolate  bird-husband 
had  procured  another  wife.  Dr.  L.  saw  a  nest  with 
the  plastering  not  quite  finished,  and  others  com- 
pleted ;  he  also  received  elsewhere,  besides  Kolobeng, 
the  same  account  that  the  bird  comes  forth  when 
the  young  are  fully-fledged,  at  the  period  when  the 
corn  is  ripe;  indeed,  her  appearance  abroad  with 
her  young  is  one  of  the  signs  they  have  for  knowing 
when  it  ought  to  be  so  :  the  time  is  between  two 
and  three  months.  She  is  said  sometimes  to  hatch 
two  eggs,  and,  when  the  young  of  these  are  full- 
fledged,  the  other  two  are  just  out  of  the  egg-shells  : 
she  then  leaves  the  nest  with  the  two  elder,  the 
orifice  is  again  plastered  up,  and  both  male  and 
female  attend  to  the  wants  of  the  young. 


BIRDS*    EGGS    AND    NESTS.  171 

There  is  a  specimen  of  a  nest  in  the  Gardens 
of  the  Zoological  Society,  which  merits  descrip- 
tion, besides  that  of  the  Bower-bird.  Such  is 
the  nest  of  the  Brush  Turkey,  which  appears  more 
like  a  small  haystack  than  an  ordinary  nest,  and 
the  methodical  manner  in  which  it  is  constructed 
is  thus  described : — Tracing  a  circle  of  considerable 
radius,  the  birds  begin  to  travel  round  it,  continually 
grasping  with  their  huge  feet  the  leaves  and  grasses 
and  dead  twigs  which  are  lying  about,  and  flinging 
them  inwards  towards  the  centre.  Each  time  that 
they  complete  their  round,  they  narrow  their  circle, 
so  that  in  a  short  time  they  clear  away  a  circular 
belt,  having  in  its  centre  a  low  irregular  mass.  By 
repeating  the  same  process,  however,  they  decrease 
the  diameter  of  the  mound  as  they  increase  its 
height,  and  at  last  a  large  and  rudely  conical  mound 
is  formed. 

In  this  nest  as  many  as  a  bushel  of  eggs  are 
deposited,  at  regular  intervals,  long  end  downwards. 
The  leaves  form  a  fermenting  mass,  which  relieves 
the  mother  of  the  necessity  of  setting  upon  them. 
The  male,  however,  has  to  regulate  the  temperature 
of  the  mass,  which  would  otherwise  get  too  hot. 
This  he  does  by  making  a  central  ventilating  shaft, 
which  carries  off  the  superfluous  heat ;  and,  lest  the 
temperature  should  fall  too  low,  he  is  constantly 
engaged  in  covering  and  uncovering  the  eggs  in 
order  to  hit  the  exact  temperature  to  be  applied  until 
the  egg  is  warmed  into  life. 


THE  EPICURE'S  OKTOLAN. 


have  allotted  this  bird  to  the  epicure, 
because  it  is  rarely  heard  of  but  in  associa- 
tion with  his  luxurious  table.  Mr.  Beckford 
describes  the  Ortolans  among  the  delicacies  which 
he  saw  in  the  kitchen  of  the  monastery  of  Batalha 
as  "  lumps  of  celestial  fatness." 

Ortolan  is  the  French  and  English  names  for  a 
species  of  Fringillidce  (Finches).  It  is  the  Hortu- 
lanus  of  Gresner  and  other  naturalists ;  Miliaria 
pinguescem  of  Frisch ;  Emberiza  Hortulana  of  Lin- 
nseus;  Ortolano  of  the  Italians  generally;  Tordino 
Berluccio  of  the  Venetians;  Garton  Ammer  and 
Fetammer  of  the  Germans  ;  and  Gerste  Keneu  of  the 
Netherlanders.  This  wide  dispersion  on  the  Con- 
tinent bespeaks  the  pet  character  of  the  bird.  Mon- 
tagu terms  it  the  Green-headed  Bunting. 

The  French  have  a  fanciful  derivation  of  the  name : 
they  say  it  is  from  the  Italian  word  for  gardener, 
which  is  from  the  Latin  kortus,  garden;  because, 
according  to  Menage,  in  Italy,  where  the  bird  is 


173 

common,    it  is    quite  at  home  in   the  hedges   of 
gardens. 

The  male  bird  has  the  throat,  circle  round  the 
eyes,  and  a  narrow  band  springing  from  the  angle 
of  the  bill,  yellow ;  head  and  neck  grey,  with  a 
tinge  of  olive,  and  small  brown  spots ;  feathers 
black,  edged  with  red ;  breast,  belly,  and  abdomen, 
reddish  grey,  the  feathers  terminated  with  ash- 
colour  ;  tail  blackish,  two  external  feathers,  in  part 
white ;  length  rather  more  than  six  inches.  There 
are,  also,  varieties  marked  white,  green,  blackish, 
and  entirely  black.  The  nest,  which  is  constructed 
of  fibres  of  plants  and  leaves,  is  frequently  found 
on  the  ground  in  corn-fields,  and  sometimes  in 
hedges  and  bushes. 

The  Ortolan  is  not  famed  for  its  song,  which  is, 
however,  soft  and  sweet.  Like  the  Nightingale,  to 
which  it  has  other  points  of  resemblance,  the 
Ortolan  sings  after,  as  well  as  before  sunset.  It 
was  this  bird  that  Varro,  the  lyric  poet,  called  his 
companion  by  night  and  day. 

The  south  of  Europe  may  be  considered  the 
summer  and  autumnal  head-quarters  of  the  Ortolan, 
though  it  is  a  summer  visitor  in  the  central  and 
northern  parts.  In  Italy  it  is  said  to  be  common 
by  Temminck  and  others.  The  Prince  of  Musig- 
nano  states  it  to  be  found  in  the  Sabine  mountains ; 
adding  that  it  rarely  flies  in  the  plains  of  Rome,  but 
is  frequent  in  Tuscany.  Lapland,  Russia,  Denmark, 
Sweden,  and  Norway,  are  among  the  countries 
visited  by  it.  In  the  British  Isles  it  seems  only 


174  THE  EPICURE'S  ORTOLAN. 

entitled  to  rank  as  an  autumnal  visitor,  but  it  may 
occur  more  frequently  than  is  generally  supposed ; 
for,  especially  to  an  unpractised  eye,  it  might  be 
mistaken  for  the  Yellow  Hammer,  and  in  some 
states  of  plumage  for  other  Buntings.  It  has  been 
taken  in  the  neighbourhood  of  London.  In  1837 
there  was  a  live  specimen  in  an  aviary  of  the 
Zoological  Society  in  Regent' s-park;  and  many 
Ortolans  are  sent  alive  to  the  London  market  from 
Prussia.  There  is,  however,  some  consolation  for 
the  rarity  of  the  Ortolan  in  England.  It  is  ap- 
proached in  delicacy  by  our  Wheatear,  which  is 
termed  the  English  Ortolan.  Hence  it  has  been 
pursued  as  a  delicate  morsel  throughout  all  its  island 
haunts.  Bewick  captured  it  at  sea,  off  the  coast 
of  Yorkshire,  in  May,  1822.  Every  spring  and 
autumn  it  may  be  observed  at  Gibraltar,  on  its 
migration.  Mr.  Strickland  saw  it  at  Smyrna  in 
April.  North  Africa  is  its  winter  residence. 
Colonel  Sykes  notes  it  in  his  catalogue  of  the  birds 
of  the  Deccan. 

Ortolans  are  solitary  birds ;  they  fly  in  pairs, 
rarely  three  together,  and  never  in  flocks.  They 
are  taken  in  traps  from  March  or  April  to  Septem- 
ber, when  they  are  often  poor  and  thin ;  but  if  fed 
with  plenty  of  millet-seed  and  other  grain,  they 
become  sheer  lumps  of  fat,  and  delicious  morsels. 
They  are  fattened  thus  in  large  establishments  in 
the  south  of  Europe ;  Mr.  Gould  states  this  to 
be  effected  in  Italy,  and  the  south  of  France,  in 
dark  rooms ;  and  the  Prince  of  Musignano,  having 


175 

described   the   process,    adds   the   relishing   words, 
"  Came  exquisita." 

The  fattening  process  in  Italy  is  one  of  great 
refinement  in  the  manner  of  feeding.  It  is  the  fat 
of  the  Ortolan  which  is  so  delicious ;  but  it  has  a 
peculiar  habit  of  feeding  which  is  opposed  to  the 
rapid  fattening,  this  is,  it  feeds  only  at  the  rising 
of  the  sun.  Yet  this  peculiarity  has  not  proved  an 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  the  Italian  gourmands. 
The  Ortolans  are  placed  in  a  dark  chamber,  per- 
fectly dark,  with  only  one  aperture  in  the  wall. 
The  food  is  scattered  over  the  floor  of  the  chamber. 
At  a  certain  hour  in  the  morning  the  keeper  of  the 
birds  places  a  lantern  in  the  orifice  of  the  wall; 
when  the  dim  light  thrown  from  the  lantern  on  the 
floor  of  the  apartment  induces  the  Ortolans  to  believe 
that  the  sun  is  about  to  rise,  and  they  greedily  con- 
sume the  food  upon  the  floor.  More  food  is  now 
scattered  over  it,  and  the  lantern  is  withdrawn. 

The  Ortolans,  rather  surprised  at  the  shortness  of 
the  day,  think  it  their  duty  to  fall  asleep,  as  night 
has  spread  her  sable  mantle  round  them.  During 
sleep,  little  of  the  food  being  expended  in  the  pro- 
duction of  force,  most  of  it  goes  to  the  formation 
of  muscle  and  fat.  After  they  have  been  allowed 
to  repose  for  one  or  two  hours,  in  order  to  complete 
the  digestion  of  the  food  taken,  their  keeper  again 
exhibits  the  lantern  through  the  aperture.  The 
"rising  sun"  a  second  time  illumines  the  apart- 
ment, and  the  birds,  awaking  from  their  slumber, 
apply  themselves  voraciously  to  the  food  on  the 


176  THE  EPICURE'S  ORTOLAN. 

floor ;  after  having  discussed  which,  they  are  again 
enveloped  in  darkness.  Thus  the  sun  is  made  to  shed 
its  rising  rays  into  the  chamber  floor  four  or  five 
times  every  day,  and  as  many  nights  following. 
The  Ortolans  thus  treated  become  like  little  balls  of 
fat  in  a  few  days.  This  not  uninteresting  process 
has  been  detailed  by  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair  to  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society.  It  may,  probably,  be  applied 
to  purposes  with  less  luxurious  objects  than  fattening 
Ortolans. 

Notwithstanding  its  delicacy,  the  Ortolan  fattens 
very  fast ;  and  it  is  this  lump  of  fatness  that  is  its 
merit,  and  has  sometimes  caused  it  to  be  preferred 
to  the  Becafico.  According  to  Buffbn,  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  understood  fattening  the  Ortolan  upon 
millet.  But  a  lively  French  commentator  doubts 
this  statement :  he  maintains  that  had  the  ancients 
known  the  Ortolan,  they  would  have  deified  it,  and 
built  altars  to  it  upon  Mount  Hymettus  and  the 
Saniculum ;  adding,  did  they  not  deify  the  horse  of 
Caligula,  which  was  certainly  not  worth  an  Ortolan  ? 
and  Caligula  himself,  who  was  not  worth  so  much 
as  his  horse  ?  However,  this  dispute  belongs  to  the 
"  classics  of  the  table." 

The  Ortolan  is  considered  sufficiently  fat  when  it 
is  a  handful,  and  is  judged  by  feeling  it,  and  not  by 
appearance.  It  should  not  be  killed  with  violence, 
like  other  birds ;  this  might  crush  and  bruise  the 
delicate  flesh,  and  spoil  the  coup-d'ceil,  to  avoid 
which  it  is  recommended  to  plunge  the  head  of  the 
Ortolan  into  a  glass  of  brandy.  The  culinary 


177 

instruction  is  as  follows  :  having  picked  the  bird  of 
its  feathers,  singe  it  with  the  flame  of  paper  or 
spirits  of  wine ;  cut  off  the  beak  and  ends  of  the 
feet ;  do  not  draw  it ;  put  it  into  a  paper  case 
soaked  in  olive  oil,  and  broil  it  over  a  slow  fire  of 
slack  cinders,  like  that  required  for  a  pigeon  a  la 
crapaudine  ;  in  a  few  minutes  the  Ortolan  will  swim 
in  its  own  fat,  and  will  be  cooked.  Some  gourmands 
wrap  each  bird  in  a  vine-leaf. 

A  gourmand  will  take  an  Ortolan  by  the  legs 
and  craunch  it  in  delicious  mouthfuls,  so  as  abso- 
lutely to  lose  none  of  it.  More  delicate  feeders  cut 
the  bird  into  quarters,  and  lay  aside  the  gizzard ; 
the  rest  may  be  eaten,  even  to  the  bones,  which  are 
sufficiently  tender  for  the  most  delicate  mouth  to 
masticate  without  inconvenience. 

On  the  Continent,  Ortolans  are  packed  in  tin 
boxes  for  exportation.  They  may  be  bought  in 
London  for  half-a-crown  a-piece.  A  few  poulterers 
import  Ortolans  in  considerable  numbers,  and  some 
have  acquired  the  art  of  fattening  these  birds.* 

*  The  Ortolan  figures  in  a  curious  anecdote  of  individual 
epicurism  in  the  last  century.  A  gentleman  of  Gloucester- 
shire had  one  son,  whom  he  sent  abroad  to  make  the  grand 
tour  of  the  Continent,  where  he  paid  more  attention  to  the 
cookery  of  nations,  and  luxurious  living,  than  anything  else. 
Before  his  return  his  father  died  and  left  him  a  large  fortune. 
He  now  looked  over  his  note-book  to  discover  where  the 
most  exquisite  dishes  were  to  be  had,  and  the  best  cooks 
obtained.  Every  servant  in  his  house  was  a  cook ;  his 
butler,  footman,  coachman,  and  grooms — all  were  cooks. 
He  had  also  three  Italian  cooks  —one  from  Florence,  another 

M 


178 

Alexis  Soyer  put  into  the  hundred  guinea  dish 
which  he  prepared  for  the  royal  table  at  the  grand 
banquet  at  York,  in  1850,  five  pounds  worth  of 
Ortolans,  which  were  obtained  from  Belgium. 

from  Vienna,  and  another  from  Yiterbo — for  dressing  one 
.Florentine  dish.  He  had  a  messenger  constantly  on  the  road 
between  Britany  and  London  to  bring  the  eggs  of  a  certain 
kind  of  plover  found  in  the  former  country.  This  prodigal 
was  known  to  eat  a  single  dinner  at  the  expense  of  70£, 
though  there  were  but  two  dishes.  In  nine  years  he  found 
himself  getting  poor,  and  this  made  him  melancholy.  When 
totally  ruined,  having  spent  150,000?.,  a  friend  one  day  gave 
him  a  guinea  to  keep  him  from  starving,  and  he  was  found 
in  a  garret  next  day  broUing  an  Ortolan,  for  which  he  had 
paid  a  portion  of  the  alms. 


TALK  ABOUT  TOUCANS. 


JHE  Toucans,  a  family  of  climbing-birds  of 
tropical  America,  appear  to  have  been  known 
in  Europe  by  the  length  and  great  size  of 
their  bills,  long  before  the  birds  themselves  found 
their  way  to  England.  Belon,  in  1555,  described  the 
bill  of  one  of  the  family  as  half  a  foot  long,  large  as 
a  child's  arm,  pointed,  and  black  at  the  tip,  white 
elsewhere,  notched  on  the  edges,  hollow  within,  and 
so  finely  delicate  as  to  be  transparent  and  thin  as 
parchment ;  and  its  beauty  caused  it  to  be  kept  in 
the  cabinets  of  the  curious.  For  more  than  a  cen- 
tury after  Belon' s  work,  the  birds  themselves  had 
not  been  seen  in  England;  for,  in  the  Museum 
Tradescantianum,  the  standard  collection  of  the  time, 
and  which,  from  the  list  of  contributors,  appears  to 
have  been  the  great  receptacle  for  all  curiosties,  we 
read  of  an  "  Azacari  (or  Toucan)  of  Brazil ;  has  his 
beak  four  inches  long,  almost  two  thick,  like  a  Turk's 
sword"  (A.D.  1656).  From  this  description  Trades- 

M  2 


180  TALK    ABOUT    TOUCANS. 

cant  knew  the  nature  of  the  bird,  if  he  had  not 
seen  it. 

Mr.  Swainson  states,  that  the  enormous  bills  give 
to  these  birds  a  most  singular  and  uncouth  appear- 
ance. Their  feet  are  formed  like  those  of  the  parrot, 
more  for  grasping  than  climbing ;  and  as  they  live 
among  trees,  and  proceed  by  hopping  from  branch 
to  branch,  their  grasping  feature  is  particularly 
adapted  for  such  habits.  They  live  retired  in  the 
deep  forests,  mostly  in  small  companies.  Their 
flight  is  strait  and  laborious,  but  not  graceful ; 
while  their  movements,  as  they  glide  rather  than 
hop  from  branch  to  branch,  are  elegant. 

Mr.  Gould,  in  his  grand  Monograph  of  the  Tou- 
cans, or  Ramphastidce,  remarks,  that  it  was  only 
within  a  few  years  of  the  time  of  Linnseus  that 
actual  specimens  of  the  Toucan  had  been  received  in 
Europe.  The  beaks,  however,  of  these  birds,  re- 
garded as  curiosities,  had  occasionally  found  their 
way  to  our  shores,  and  had  occasioned  some  curious 
conjectures.  The  earliest  shape  resembled  a  Turkish 
scimitar. 

The  Toucans  (a  word  derived  from  their  Brazilian 
name,  Taca,  Tuca)  received  from  Linnaeus  the  title 
of  Ramphastos,  in  allusion  to  the  great  volume  of  the 
beak  (pa/ji^os — Ramphos),  a  family  (Ramphastidce). 
In  some  respects,  indeed,  they  resemble  the  Hornbills 
in  the  development  of  the  beak.  The  Toucans  may 
be  said  to  represent  in  America  the  Hornbills  in 
India  and  Africa.  Large  as  is  the  beak  of  -the 


TALK   ABOUT   TOUCANS.  181 

Toucan  compared  with  the  size  of  the  body,  it  is  in 
reality  very  light.  Its  outer  sheathing  is  somewhat 
elastic,  very  thin,  smooth,  and  semi-transparent ;  and 
the  interior  consists  of  a  maze  of  delicate  cells, 
throughout  which  the  olfactory  nerves  are  multi- 
tudinously  distributed.  The  nostrils  are  basal,  the 
edges  of  each  mandible  are  serrated,  and  the  colour- 
ing of  the  whole  beak  is  bright,  rich,  and  often 
relieved  by  contrasted  markings.  But  these  tints 
begin  to  fade  after  death,  and  become  ultimately 
dissipated.  The  eyes  are  surrounded  by  a  consider- 
able space  of  naked  skin,  often  very  richly  tinted.  The 
tongue  is  very  long,  slender,  horizontally  flattened, 
pointed,  and,  except  at  its  base,  horny ;  it  is  fringed 
or  feathered  along  each  side.  The  wings  are  short, 
concave,  and  comparatively  feeble. 

The  tail  is  variable,  equal  and  squared ;  it  is  remark- 
able for  the  facility  with  which  it  can  be  retroverted 
or  turned  up,  so  as  to  lie  upon  the  back.  This  pecu- 
liarity results  from  a  modification  of  structure  in  the 
caudal  vertebrae,  which  enables  the  tail  to  turn  with 
a  jerk  by  the  action  of  certain  muscles,  as  if  it  were 
fixed  on  a  hinge  put  into  action  by  means  of  a  spring. 
"When  the  retroversion  is  accomplished,  the  muscles 
which  caused  it  become  passive,  and  offer  no  resist- 
ance to  their  antagonists,  which  restore  the  tail  to 
its'  ordinary  direction.  When  they  sleep  they  puff 
out  their  plumage,  they  rctrovert  the  tail  over  the 
back,  draw  the  head  between  the  shoulders ;  the  bill 
begins  to  turn  over  the  right  shoulder,  and  becomes 
at  last  buried  in  the  plumage  of  the  back ;  at  the 


182  TALK    ABOUT   TOUCANS. 

same  time  the  pinions  of  the  wings  droop,  and  con- 
ceal the  feet.  The  bird  now  resembles  an  oval  ball 
of  puifed-up  feathers,  and  is  well  protected  against 
the  cold. 

Toucans  utter,  from  time  to  time,  harsh,  clattering, 
and  discordant  cries.  "Some,"  says  Mr.  Gould, 
"  frequent  the  humid  woods  of  the  temperate  regions, 
while  others  resort  to  comparatively  colder  districts, 
and  dwell  at  an  elevation  of  from  six  to  ten  thousand 
feet.  Those  inhabiting  the  lofty  regions  are  gene- 
rically  different  from  those  residing  in  the  low  lands, 
and  are  clothed  in  a  more  thick  and  sombre-coloured 
plumage.  All  the  members  of  the  Hill-Toucans 
are  distinguished  by  their  bills  'being  strong,  heavy, 
and  hard,  when  compared  with  those  of  the  true 
Toucans  and  Ara9aris,  all  of  which  have  their 
bills  of  a  more  delicate  structure,  and  in  several 
species  so  thin  and  elastic  on  the  sides  as  to  be  com- 
pressible between  the  fingers."  Their  food  in  a  state 
of  nature  consists  of  fruit,  eggs,  and  nestling  birds ; 
to  which,  in  domestication,  are  added  small  birds, 
mice,  caterpillars,  and  raw  flesh.  They  incubate  in 
the  hollows  of  gigantic  trees. 

Faber  was  told  by  Fryer,  Alaysa,  and  other 
Spaniards  who  had  lived  long  in  America,  and  also 
by  the  Indians,  that  the  Toucan  even  hews  out  holes 
in  trees,  in  which  to  nidify ;  and  Oviedo  adds,  that  it 
is  from  this  habit  of  chipping  the  trees  that  the  bird 
is  called  by  the  Spaniards  Carpintero,  and  by  the 
Brazilians  Tacataca,  in  imitation,  apparently,  of  the 
sound  it  thus  makes. 


TALK    ABOUT    TOUCANS.  183 

The  larger  feed  upon  bananas  and  other  succulent 
plants;  the  smaller  upon  the  smaller  fruits  and 
berries.  Prince  Maximilian  de  Wied  states,  that  in 
Brazil  he  found  only  the  remains  of  fruits  in  their 
stomachs,  and  adds,  that  they  make  sad  havoc  among 
plantations  of  fruit-trees.  He  was  informed,  how- 
ever, that  they  steal  and  eat  birds,  but  never  himself 
saw  them  in  the  act.  They  abound  in  the  vast 
forests,  and  are  killed  in  great  number  in  the  cooler 
season  in  the  year  for  the  purposes  of  the  table.  In 
their  manners  the  Toucans  resemble  the  Crow  tribe, 
and  especially  the  Magpies  :  like  them,  they  are  very 
troublesome  to  the  birds  of  prey,  particularly  to  the 
Owls,  which  they  surround,  making  a  great  noise, 
all  the  while  jerking  their  tails  upwards  and  down- 
wards. Their  feathers,  especially  from  their  yellow 
breasts,  are  used  by  the  Indians  for  personal  deco- 
ration. 

Azara  states  that  they  attack  even  the  solid  nests 
of  the  white  ants,  when  the  clay  of  which  their  nests 
are  formed  becomes  moistened  with  the  rain ;  they 
break  them  up  with  their  beaks,  so  as  to  obtain  the 
young  ants  and  their  eggs  ;  and  during  the  breeding 
season  the  Toucan  feeds  upon  nothing  else ;  during 
the  rest  of  the  year  he  subsists  upon  fruit,  insects, 
and  the  buds  of  trees. 

Edwards,  in  his  voyage  up  the  Amazon,  observes, 
that  when  a  party  of  Toucans  alight  on  a  tree,  one 
usually  acts  the  part  of  a  sentinel,  uttering  the  loud 
cry  of  "  Tucano,"  whence  they  derive  their  name ; 
the  others  disperse  over  the  branches  in  search  of 


184  TALK   ABOUT    TOUCANS. 

fruit.  While  feeding  they  keep  up  a  hoarse  chatter- 
ing, and  at  intervals  unite  with  the  noisy  sentry,  and 
scream  a  concert  that  may  be  heard  a  mile.  Having 
appeased  their  appetites,  they  seek  the  depths  of  a 
forest,  and  there  quietly  doze  away  the  noon.  In 
early  morning  a  few  of  them  may  be  seen  sitting 
quietly  upon  the  branches  of  some  dead  tree,  appa- 
rently awaiting  the  coming  sunlight  before  starting 
for  their  feeding-trees. 

Some  species  of  Toucans  have  been  seen  quarrel- 
ling with  monkeys  over  a  nest  of  eggs.  Their  car- 
nivorous propensity  has  been  strikingly  shown  in 
the  specimens  which  have  been  kept  in  England. 
On  the  approach  of  any  small  bird  the  Toucan 
becomes  highly  excited,  raises  itself  up,  erects  its 
feathers,  and  utters  a  hollow  clattering  sound,  the 
irides  of  the  eyes  expand,  and  the  Toucan  is  ready 
to  dart  on  its  prey.  A  Toucan,  exhibited  in  St. 
Martin' s-lane  in  1824,  seized  and  devoured  a  canary- 
bird.  Next  day  Mr.  Broderip  tried  him  with  a  live 
goldfinch.  The  Toucan  seized  it  with  the  beak,  and 
the  poor  little  victim  uttered  a  short  weak  cry,  for 
within  a  second  it  was  dead,  killed  by  the  powerful 
compression  of  the  mandibles.  The  Toucan  now 
placed  the  dead  bird  firmly  between  its  foot  and 
the  perch,  stripped  off  the  feathers  with  its  bill, 
and  then  broke  the  bones  of  the  wings  and  legs, 
by  strongly  wrenching  them,  the  bird  being  still 
secured  by  the  Toucan's  foot.  He  then  continued 
to  work  with  great  dexterity  till  he  had  reduced  the 
goldfinch  to  a  shapeless  mass.  This  he  devoured 


TALK    ABOUT    TOUCANS.  185 

piece  by  piece  with  great  gusto,  not  even  leaving 
the  legs  or  the  beak  of  his  prey  :  to  each  morsel 
he  applied  his  tongue  as  he  masticated  it,  chattering 
and  shivering  with  delight.  He  never  used  his  foot, 
but  his  bill,  for  conveying  his  food  to  his  mouth  by 
the  sides  of  the  bill. 

Mr.  Swainson  remarks  : — "  The  apparent  dispro- 
portion of  the  bill  is  one  of  the  innumerable  instances 
of  that  beautiful  adaptation  of  structure  to  use  which 
the  book  of  nature  everywhere  reveals.  The  food 
of  these  birds  consists  principally  of  the  eggs  and 
young  of  others,  to  discover  which  nature  has  given 
them  the  most  exquisite  powers  of  smell."  Again, 
the  nests  in  which  the  Toucan  finds  its  food  are  often 
very  deep  and  dark,  and  its  bill,  covered  with 
branches  of  nerves,  enables  the  bird  to  feel  its  way 
as  accurately  as  the  finest  and  most  delicate  finger 
could.  From  its  feeding  on  eggs  found  in  other 
birds'  nests,  it  has  been  called  the  Egg-sucker. 
Probably  there  is  no  bird  which  secures  her  young 
offspring  better  from  the  monkeys,  which  are  very 
noisome  to  the  young  of  most  birds.  For  when 
she  perceives  the  approach  of  these  enemies  she  so 
settles  herself  in  her  nest  as  to  put  her  bill  out  at 
the  hole,  and  give  the  monkeys  such  a  welcome 
therewith  that  they  presently  break  away,  and  are 
glad  to  escape. 

Professor  Owen,  in  his  minute  examination  of  the 
mandibles,  remarks  that  the  principle  of  the  cylinder 
is  introduced  into  the  elaborate  structure;  the 


186  TALK    ABOUT    TOUCANS. 

smallest  of  the  supporting  pillars  of  the  mandibles 
are  seen  to  be  hollow  or  tubular  when  examined 
with  the  microscope. 

Light  and  almost  diaphonous  as  is  the  bill  of  the 
Toucan,  its  strength  and  the  power  of  the  muscles, 
which  act  upon  the  mandibles,  are  evident  in  the 
wrenching  and  masticatory  processes.  When  taking 
fruit,  the  Toucan  generally  holds  it  for  a  short  time 
at  the  extremity  of  his  bill,  applying  to  it,  with 
apparent  delight,  the  pointed  tip  of  the  slender 
tongue :  the  bird  then  throws  it,  with  a  sudden 
upward  jerk,  to  the  throat,  where  it  is  caught  and 
instantly  swallowed. 

Mr.  Gould  divides  the  Toucans  into  six  genera. 
1.  The  true  Toucans,  with  large  and  gaily-coloured 
bills,  plumage  black.  2.  The  Ara9aris,  with  smaller 
beaks,  plumage  green,  yellow,  and  red.  3.  The 
Banded  Aracauris,  an  Amazonian  genus,  proposed 
by  Prince  C.  L.  Bonaparte.  4.  Toucanets,  small, 
with  crescent  of  yellow  on  the  back,  and  brilliant 
orange  and  yellow  ear-coverts.  5.  Hill  Toucans 
of  the  Andes.  6.  Groove-bills,  grass-green  plu- 
mage. 

A  very  fine  true  Toucan,  figured  by  Mr.  Gould, 
is  remarkable  for  the  splendour  and  size  of  the  bill, 
of  a  fine  orange-red,  with  a  large  black  patch  on 
each  side.  Powder-flasks  are  made  of  large  and 
finely-coloured  bills.  The  naked  skin  round  the 
eye  is  bright  orange.  The  chest  is  white,  with  a 
tinge  of  sulphur  below,  and  a  slight  scarlet  margin. 


TALK    ABOUT    TOUCANS.  187 

Upper  tail-coverts,  white ;  under  tail-coverts,  scarlet ; 
the  rest  of  the  plumage,  black.  Several  specimens 
of  this  beautiful  bird  lived  both  in  the  menagerie 
of  the  late  Earl  of  Derby,  at  Knowsley,  and  in  the 
gardens  of  the  Zoological  Society.  It  is  a  native 
of  Cayenne,  Paraguay,  &c. 

Toucans  in  their  manners  are  gentle  and  confi- 
dent, exhibiting  no  alarm  at  strangers,  and  are  as 
playful  as  magpies  or  jackdaws;  travellers  assure 
us  that  they  may  be  taught  tricks  and  feats  like 
parrots ;  and  although  they  cannot  imitate  the 
human  voice,  they  show  considerable  intelligence. 
One  of  the  Toucanets  is  named  from  Mr.  Gould,  the 
plates  in  whose  monograph,  from  their  size,  beauty, 
and  accuracy,  have  all  the  air  of  portraits. 


ECCENTKICITIES  OF  PENGUINS. 


]HIS  group  of  amphibious  birds,  though 
powerless  in  the  wing  as  an  organ  of 
flight,  are  assisted  by  it  as  a  species  of 
fin  in  their  rapid  divings  and  evolutions  under  water, 
and  even  as  a  kind  of  anterior  of  extremity  when 
progressing  on  the  land.  Their  lot  has  been  wisely 
cast  on  those  desolate  southern  islands  and  shores 
where  man  rarely  intrudes,  and  in  many  instances 
where  a  churlish  climate  or  a  barren  soil  offers  no 
temptations  to  him  to  invade  their  territory. 

Le  Yaillant,  when  on  Dassen  Island,  found  that 
the  smaller  crevices  of  the  rocks  served  as  places  of 
retreat  for  Penguins,  which  swarmed  there.  "  This 
bird,"  says  Le  Yaillant,  which  is  about  two  feet  in 
length,  "  does  not  carry  its  body  in  the  same  manner 
as  others  :  it  stands  perpendicularly  on  its  two  feet, 
which  gives  it  an  air  of  gravity,  so  much  the  more 
ridiculous  as  its  wings,  which  have  no  feathers, 
hang  carelessly  down  on  each  side;  it  never  uses 
them  but  in  swimming.  As  we  advanced  towards 


ECCENTRICITIES    OF    PENGUINS.  189 

the  middle  of  the  island  we  met  innumerable  troops 
of  them.  Standing  firm  and  erect  on  their  legs, 
these  animals  never  deranged  themselves  in  the 
least  to  let  us  pass;  they  more  particularly  sur- 
rounded the  mausoleum,  and  seemed  as  if  deter- 
mined to  prevent  us  from  approaching  it.  All 
the  environs  were  entirely  beset  with  them.  Nature 
had  done  more  for  the  plain  tomb  of  the  poor 
Danish  captain  than  what  proceeds  from  the 
imaginations  of  poets  or  the  chisels  of  our  artists. 
The  hideous  owl,  however  well  sculptured  in  our 
churches,  has  not  half  so  dead  and  melancholy  an 
air  as  the  Penguin.  The  mournful  cries  of  this 
animal,  mixed  with  those  of  the  sea-calf,  impressed 
on  my  mind  a  kind  of  gloom  which  much  disposed 
me  to  tender  sensations  of  sadness.  My  eyes  were 
sometime  fixed  on  the  last  abode  of  the  unfortunate 
traveller,  and  I  gave  his  manes  the  tribute  of  a  sigh." 

Sir  John  Narborough  says  of  the  Patagonian 
Penguins  that  their  erect  attitude  and  bluish-black 
backs,  contrasted  with  their  white  bellies,  might 
cause  them  to  be  taken  at  a  distance  for  young 
children  with  white  pinafores  on.  A  line  of  them 
is  engraved  in  Webster's  "  Voyage  of  the  Chanti- 
cleer," and  reminds  us  of  one  of  the  woodcuts  in 
Hood's  "  Comic  Annual." 

The  "  towns,  camps,  and  rookeries,"  as  they  have 
been  called,  of  Penguins  have  been  often  described. 
At  the  Falkland  Islands  are  assemblies  of  Penguins, 
which  give  a  dreary  desolation  to  the  place,  in  the 
utter  absence  of  the  human  race.  In  some  of  the 


190  ECCENTRICITIES    OF    PENGUINS. 

towns  voyagers  describe  a  general  stillness,  and 
when  the  intruders  walked  among  the  feathered 
population  to  provide  themselves  with  eggs,  they 
were  regarded  with  side-long  glances,  but  they 
seemed  to  carry  no  terror  with  them.  In  many 
places  the  shores  are  covered  with  these  birds,  and 
three  hundred  have  been  taken  within  an  hour ;  for 
they  generally  make  no  effort  to  escape,  but  stand 
quietly  by  whilst  their  companions  are  knocked 
down  with  sticks,  till  it  comes  to  their  turn. 

The  rookeries  are  described  as  designed  with  the 
utmost  order  and  regularity,  though  they  are  the 
resort  of  several  different  species.  A  regular  camp, 
often  covering  three  or  four  acres,  is  laid  out  and 
levelled,  and  the  ground  disposed  in  squares  for  the 
nests,  as  accurately  as  if  a  surveyor  had  been  em- 
ployed. Their  marchings  and  countermarchings  are 
said  to  remind  the  observer  of  the  manoeuvres  of 
soldiers  on  parade.  In  the  midst  of  this  apparent 
order  there  appears  to  be  not  very  good  govern- 
ment, for  the  stronger  species  steal  the  eggs  of  the 
weaker  if  they  are  left  unguarded ;  and  the  King 
Penguin  is  the  greatest  thief  of  all.  Three  species 
are  found  in  the  Falkland  Islands.  Two,  the 
Kings  and  the  Macaroni,  deposit  their  eggs  in  these 
rookeries.  The  Jackass,  which  is  the  third,  obtained 
its  English  name  from  its  brayings  at  night.  It 
makes  its  nests  in  burrows  on  downs  and  sandy 
plains ;  and  Forster  describes  the  ground  as  every- 
where so  much  bored,  that  a  person,  in  walking, 
often  sinks  up  to  the  knees ;  and  if  the  Penguin 


ECCENTRICITIES    OF    PENGUINS.  191 

chance  to  be  in  her  hole,  she  revenges  herself  on  the 
passenger  by  fastening  on  his  legs,  which  she  bites 
very  hard. 

But  these  rookeries  are  insignificant  when  com- 
pared with  a  settlement  of  King  Penguins,  which 
Mr.  Gr.  Bennett  saw  at  the  north  end  of  Macquarrie 
Island,  in  the  South  Pacific  Ocean — a  colony  of 
these  birds,  which  covered  some  thirty  or  forty 
acres.  Here,  during  the  whole  of  the  day  and  night, 
30,000  or  40,000  Penguins  are  continually  landing, 
and  an  equal  number  going  to  sea.  They  are  ranged, 
when  on  shore,  in  as  regular  ranks  as  a  regiment  of 
soldiers,  and  are  classed,  the  young  birds  in  one 
situation,  the  moulting  birds  in  another,  the  sitting 
hens  in  a  third,  the  clean  birds  in  a  fourth,  &c. ; 
and  so  strictly  do  birds  in  a  similar  condition  congre- 
gate, that,  should  a  moulting  bird  intrude  itself 
among  those  which  are  clean,  it  is  immediately 
ejected  from  them.  The  females,  if  approached 
during  incubation,  move  away,  carrying  their  eggs 
with  them.  At  this  time  the  male  bird  goes  to  sea, 
and  collects  food  for  the  female,  which  becomes 
very  fat. 

Captain  Fitzroy  describes,  at  Noir  Island,  multi- 
tudes of  Penguins  swarming  among  the  bushes  and 
tussac-grass  near  the  shore,  for  moulting  and  rearing 
their  young.  They  were  very  valiant  in  self-defence, 
and  ran  open-mouthed  by  dozens  at  any  one  who 
invaded  their  territory.  The  manner  of  feeding 
their  young  is  amusing.  The  old  bird  gets  on  a 
little  eminence  and  makes  a  loud  noise,  between 


192  ECCENTRICITIES    OF    PENGUINS. 

quacking  and  braying,  holding  its  head  up  as  if 
haranguing  the  Penguinnery,  the  young  one  standing 
close  to  it,  but  a  little  lower.  The  old  bird  thon 
puts  down  its  head,  and  opens  its  mouth  widely, 
into  which  the  young  one  thrusts  its  head,  and  then 
appears  to  suck  from  the  throat  of  its  mother ;  after 
which  the  clatter  is  repeated,  and  the  young  one  is 
again  fed :  this  continues  for  about  ten  minutes. 

Mr.  Darwin,  having  placed  himself  between  a 
Penguin,  on  the  Falkland  Islands,  and  the  water, 
was  much  amused  by  watching  its  habits.  "  It  was 
a  brown  bird,"  says  Mr.  Darwin,  "  and,  till  reaching 
the  sea,  it  regularly  fought  and  drove  me  back- 
wards. Nothing  less  than  heavy  blows  would  have 
stopped  him :  every  inch  gained,  he  firmly  kept 
standing  close  before  me,  erect  and  determined. 
When  thus  opposed,  he  continually  rolled  his  head 
from  side  to  side  in  a  very  odd  manner.  While  at 
sea,  and  undisturbed,  this  bird's  note  is  very  deep 
and  solemn,  and  is  often  heard  in  the  night  time. 
In  diving,  its  little  plumeless  wings  are  used  as  fins, 
but  on  the  land  as  front  legs.  When  crawling  (it 
may  be  said  on  four  legs)  through  the  tussacks,  or 
on  the  side  of  a  grassy  cliff,  it  moved  so  very  quickly 
that  it  might  readily  have  been  mistaken  for  a  quad- 
ruped. When  at  sea,  and  fishing,  it  comes  to  the 
surface  for  the  purpose  of  breathing  with  such  a 
spring,  and  dives  again  so  instantaneously,  that  I 
defy  any  one,  at  first  sight,  to  be  sure  that  it  is  not 
a  fish  leaping  for  sport." 

Bougainville  endeavoured  to  bring  home  a  Penguin 


ECCENTRICITIES    OF    PENGUINS.  193 

alive.  It  became  so  tame  that  it  followed  the  person 
who  fed  it;  it  ate  "bread,  flesh,  or  fish;  but  it  fell 
away  and  died.  The  four-footed  Duck  of  Gesner 
might  have  owed  its  origin  to  an  ill-preserved 
Penguin.  The  notion  of  its  being  four-footed  might 
have  been  fortified  by  some  voyager  who  had  seen 
the  bird  making  progress  as  Mr.  Darwin  has  above 
described. 

Mr.  Webster  describes  the  feathers  of  Penguins 
as  very  different  from  those  of  other  birds,  being 
short,  very  rigid,  and  the  roots  deeply  imbedded  in 
fat.  They  are,  in  general,  flat,  and  bent  backwards, 
those  on  the  breast  being  of  a  satin  or  silky  white, 
and  those  on  the  flippers  so  short  and  small  as  to 
approach  the  nature  of  scales^  overlaying  each  other 
very  closely.  The  skins  are  loaded  with  fat.  Their 
feet  are  not  regularly  webbed,  but  present  a  broad, 
fleshy  surface,  more  adapted  for  walking  than  swim- 
ming. Mr.  Webster  saw  great  numbers  of  Penguins 
on  Staten  Island.  They  are  the  only  genus  of  the 
feathered  race  that  are  there,  and  live  in  the  water, 
like  seals.  He  saw  them  at  the  distance  of  200 
miles  from  the  land,  swimming  with  the  rapidity  of 
the  dolphin,  the  swiftest  of  fishes.  When  they 
come  up  to  the  surface  for  fresh  breath,  they  make  a 
croaking  noise,  dip  their  beaks  frequently  in  the 
water,  and  play  and  dive  about  near  the  surface, 
like  the  bonita.  Penguins  have  great  powers  of 
abstinence,  and  are  able  to  live  four  or  five  months 
without  food.  Stones  have  been  occasionally  found 
in  their  stomachs,  but  they  generally  live  on  shrimps 


194  ECCENTRICITIES    OF    PENGUINS. 

and  Crustacea,  gorging  themselves  sometimes  to 
excess.  The  sensations  of  these  curious  birds  do 
not  seem  to  be  very  acute.  Sparrman  stumbled  over 
a  sleeping  one,  and  kicked  it  some  yards,  without 
disturbing  its  rest ;  and  Forster  left  a  number  of 
Penguins  apparently  lifeless,  while  he  went  in  pur- 
suit of  others,  but  they  afterwards  got  up  and 
marched  oif  with  their  usual  gravity. 

The  bird  is  named  from  the  Welsh  word,  Pengwyn, 
"White  head  (pen,  head;  gtcyn,  white),  and  is  thought 
to  have  been  given  to  the  bird  by  some  Welsh 
sailors,  on  seeing  its  white  breast.  Davis,  who  dis- 
covered, in  1585,  the  straits  which  are  named  after 
him,  was  of  Welsh  parents.  Might  he  not  have 
given  the  name  Pengwyn  to  the  bird?  Swainson 
considers  the  Penguins,  on  the  whole,  as  the  most 
singular  of  all  aquatic  birds ;  and  he  states  that 
they  clearly  point  out  that  nature  is  about  to  pass 
from  the  birds  to  the  fishes.  Others  consider  Pen- 
guins more  satisfactorily  to  represent  some  of  the 
aquatic  reptiles,  especially  the  marine  testudinata. 


PELICANS  AND  COEMOEANTS. 


JELICAISTS  are  described  as  a  large,  voracious, 
and  wandering  tribe  of  birds,  living  for  the 
most  part  on  the  ocean,  and  seldom  ap- 
proaching land  but  at  the  season  of  incubation. 
They  fly  with  ease,  and  even  with  swiftness.  Their 
bill^is  long,  and  armed  at  the  end  with  an  abrupt 
hook ;  the  width  of  the  gape  is  excessive ;  the  face  is 
generally  bare  of  feathers,  and  the  skin  of  the  throat 
sometimes  so  extensible  as  to  hang  down  like  a  bag ; 
it  will  occasionally  contain  ten  quarts.  "By  this 
curious  organization,"  observes  Swainson,  "  the 
Pelicans  are  able  to  swallow  fish  of  a  very  large 
size ;  and  the  whole  family  may  be  termed  oceanic 
vultures.9' 

The  neighbourhood  of  rivers,  lakes,  and  the  sea- 
coast,  is  the  haunt  of  the  Pelican,  and  they  are 
rarely  seen  more  than  twenty  leagues  from  the  land. 
Le  Yaillant,  upon  visiting  Dassen  Island,  at  the 
entrance  of  Saldanha  Bay,  beheld,  as  he  says,  after 
wading  through  the  surf,  and  clambering  up  the 
N  2 


196  PELICANS    AND    CORMORANTS. 

rocks,  such  a  spectacle  as  never,  perhaps,  appeared 
to  the  eye  of  mortal.  "  All  of  a  sudden  there  arose 
from  the  whole  surface  of  the  island  an  impenetrable 
cloud,  which  formed,  at  the  distance  of  forty  feet 
ahove  our  heads,  an  immense  canopy,  or,  rather,  a 
sky,  composed  of  birds  of  every  species  and  of  all 
colours — cormorants,  sea-gulls,  sand-swallows,  and, 
I  believe,  the  whole  winged  tribe  of  this  part  of 
Africa,  were  here  assembled."  The  same  traveller 
found  on  the  Klein-Brak  river,  whilst  waiting  for 
the  ebb-tide,  thousands  of  Pelicans  and  Flamingoes, 
the  deep  rose-colour  of  the  one  strongly  contrasting 
with  the  white  of  the  other. 

Mr.  Gould  says  the  bird  is  remarkable  for  lon- 
gevity and  the  long  period  requisite  for  the  comple- 
tion of  its  plumage.  The  first  year's  dress  is  wholly 
brown,  then  fine  white.  The  rosy  tints  are  only 
acquired  as  the  bird  advances  in  age,  and  five  years 
are  required  before  the  Pelican  becomes  fully  mature. 
The  expanse  of  wings  is  from  twelve  to  thirteen 
feet.  Although  the  bird  perches  on  trees,  it  prefers 
rocky  shores.  It  is  found  in  the  Oriental  countries 
of  Europe  ;  and  is  common  on  the  rivers  and  lakes  of 
Hungary  and  Russia,  and  on  the  Danube.  That  the 
species  exists  in  Asia  there  is  no  doubt.  Belon,  who 
refers  to  Leviticus  xi.  18,  where  the  bird  is  noted  as 
unclean,  says  that  it  is  frequent  on  the  lakes  of 
Egypt  and  Judaea.  When  he  was  passing  the  plain 
of  Roma,  which  is  only  half  a  day's  journey  from 
Jerusalem,  he  saw  them  flying  in  pairs,  like  swans, 
as  well  as  in  a  large  flock.  Hasselquist  saw  the 


PELICANS   AND    CORMORANTS.  197 

Pelican  at  Damietta,  in  Egypt.  "In  flying,  they 
form  an  acute  angle,  like  the  common  wild  geese 
when  they  migrate.  They  appear  in  some  of  the 
Egyptian  drawings." — (Rossellini.) 

Yon  Siebold  saw  the  Pelican  in  Japan.  "  Pelicans," 
says  Dr.  Richardson,  "  are  numerous  in  the  interior 
of  the  fur  countries,  but  they  seldom  come  within 
two  hundred  miles  of  Hudson's  Bay.  They  deposit 
their  eggs  usually  on  small  rocky  islands,  on  the 
brink  of  cascades,  where  they  can  scarcely  be  ap- 
proached ;  but  they  are  otherwise  by  no  means  shy 
birds.  They  haunt  eddies  under  waterfalls,  and 
devour  great  quantities  of  carp  and  other  fish.  When 
gorged  with  food  they  doze  on  the  water,  and  may 
be  easily  captured,  as  they  have  great  difficulty  in 
taking  wing  at  such  times,  particularly  if  their 
pouches  be  loaded  with  fish." 

The  bird  builds  on  rocky  and  desert  shores  :  hence 
we  read  of  "  the  Pelican  of  the  wilderness,"  alluded 
to  in  these  beautiful  lines  : — 

"  Like  the  Pelicans 

On  that  lone  island  where  they  built  their  nests, 
Nourish' d  their  young,  and  then  lay  down  to  die." 

The  bird  lives  on  fish,  which  it  darts  upon  from  a 
considerable  height.  James  Montgomery  thus  de- 
scribes this  mode  of  taking  their  prey  : — 

"  Eager  for  food,  their  searching  eyes  they  fix'd 
On'  Ocean's  unroll'd  volume,  from  a  height 
That  brought  immensity  within  their  scope  ; 
Yet  with  such  power  of  vision  look'd  they  down, 
As  though  they  watch' d  the  shell-fish  slowly  gliding 


198  PELICANS    AND    CORMORANTS. 

O'er  sunken  rocks,  or  climbing  trees  of  coral. 

On  indefatigable  wing  upheld, 

Breath,  pulse,  existence,  seem'd  suspended  in  them  ; 

They  were  as  pictures  painted  on  the  sky  ; 

Till  suddenly,  aslant,  away  they  shot, 

Like  meteors  chang'd  from  stars  in  gleams  of  lightning, 

And  struck  upon  the  deep  ;  where,  in  wild  play, 

Their  quarry  flounder'd,  unsuspecting  harm. 

With  terrible  voracity  they  plunged 

Their  heads  among  the  affrighted  shoals,  and  beat 

A  tempest  on  the  surges  with  their  wings, 

Till  flashing  clouds  of  foam  and  spray  conceal'd  them. 

Nimbly  they  seized  and  secreted  their  prey, 

Alive  and  wriggling,  in  th'  elastic  net 

Which  Nature  hung  beneath  their  grasping  beaks  ; 

Till,  swoll'n  with  captures,  th'  unwieldy  burthen 

Clogg'd  their  slow  flight,  as  heavily  to  land 

These  mighty  hunters  of  the  deep  return'd. 

There  on  the  cragged  cliffs  they  perched  at  ease, 

Gorging  their  hapless  victims  one  by  one  ; 

Then,  full  and  weary,  side  by  side  they  slept, 

Till  evening  roused  them  to  the  chase  again." 

Pelican  Island. 

Great  numbers  of  Pelicans  are  killed  for  their 
pouches,  which  are  converted  by  the  native  Americans 
into  purses,  &c.  When  carefully  prepared,  the 
membrane  is  as  soft  as  silk,  and  sometimes  em- 
broidered by  Spanish  ladies  for  work-bags,  &c.  It 
is  used  in  Egypt  by  the  sailors,  whilst  attached  to 
the  two  under  chaps,  for  holding  or  baling  water. 

With  the  Pelican  has  been  associated  an  old 
popular  error,  which  has  not  long  disappeared  from 
books  of  information :  it  is  that  of  the  Pelican 
feeding  her  young  with  her  blood.  In  reference  to 


PELICANS    AND    CORMORANTS.  199 

the  actual  economy  of  the  Pelican,  we  find  that,  in 
feeding  the  nestlings—  and  the  male  is  said  to  supply 
the  wants  of  the  female,  when  sitting,  in  the  same 
manner — the  under  mandible  is  pressed  against  the 
neck  and  breast,  to  assist  the  bird  in  disgorging  the 
contents  of  the  capacious  pouch;  and  during  this 
action  the  red  nail  of  the  upper  mandible  would 
appear  to  come  in  contact  with  the  breast,  thus 
laying  the  foundation,  in  all  probability,  for  the 
fable  that  the  Pelican  nourishes  her  young  with  her 
blood,  and  for  the  attitude  in  which  the  imagination 
of  painters  has  placed  the  bird  in  books  of  emblems, 
&c.,  with  the  blood  spirting  from  the  wounds  made 
by  the  terminating  nail  of  the  upper  mandible  into 
the  gaping  mouths  of  her  offspring. 

Sir  Thomas  Browne,  in  his  "Vulgar  Errors," 
says  : — "  In  every  place  we  meet  with  the  picture  of 
the  Pelican  opening  her  breast  with  her  bill,  and 
feeding  her  young  ones  with  the  blood  distilling 
from  her.  Thus  it  is  set  forth,  not  only  in  common 
signs,  but  in  the  crest  and  scutcheon  of  many  noble 
families  ;  hath  been  asserted  by  many  holy  writers, 
and  was  an  hieroglyphic  of  piety  and  pity  among 
the  Egyptians ;  on  which  consideration  they  spared 
them  at  their  tables/' 

Sir  Thomas  refers  this  popular  error  to  an  ex- 
aggerated description  of  the  Pelican's  fondness  for 
her  young,  and  is  inclined  to  accept  it  as  an  emblem 
"  in  coat-armour,"  though  with  great  doubt. 

In  "A  Choice  of  Emblems  and  other  Devices," 
by  Geoffrey  Whitney,  are  these  lines  : — 


200  PELICANS    AND    CORMORANTS. 

"  The  Pelican,  for  to  revive  her  younge, 

Doth  pierce  her  breste,  and  geve  them  of  her  blood. 
Then  searche  your  breste,  and  as  you  have  with  tonge, 

With  penne  precede  to  do  your  countrie  good  : 
Your  zeal  is  great,  your  learning  is  prof ounde  ; 
Then  help  our  wantes  with  that  you  do  abound." 

In    George     Wither's     "Emblems,"    1634,    we 

find— 

"  Our  Pelican,  by  bleeding  thus, 
Fulfill' d  the  law,  and  cured  us." 

Shakspeare,  in  "  Hamlet,"  thus  alludes  to  the 
popular  notion : — 

"  To  his  good  friends  thus  wide  I'll  ope  my  arms  ; 
And  like  the  kind,  life-rendering  Pelican, 
Eepast  them  with  my  blood." 

In  a  holier  light,  this  symbol  signifies  the  Saviour 
giving  Himself  up  for  the  redemption  of  mankind. 
In  Lord  Lindsay's  "  Christian  Art/'  vols.  i.,  xx., 
xxi.,  we  find  in  the  text,  "  God  the  Son  (is  symbol- 
ized) by  a  Pelican — i  I  am  like  a  Pelican  of  the 
wilderness.'  (Psalm  cii.  6.) "  To  which  is  added  the 
following  note  : — "  The  mediaeval  interpretation  of 
this  symbol  is  given  by  Sir  David  Lindsay,  of  the 
Mount,  Lion  King,  nephew  of  the  poet,  in  his  MS. 
'  Collectanea,'  preserved  in  the  Advocates'  Library, 
Edinburgh. 

Sir  Thomas  Browne  hints  at  the  probability  of  the 
Pelican  occasionally  nibbling  or  biting  itself  on  the 
itching  part  of  its  breast,  upon  fulness  or  acrimony 
of  blood,  so  as  to  tinge  the  feathers  in  that  part. 
Such  an  instance  is  recorded  by  Mr.  G.  Bennett  of  a 


PELICANS    AND    CORMORANTS.  201 

Pelican  living  at  Dulwich,  which  wounded  itself 
just  above  the  breast ;  but  no  such  act  has  been 
observed  among  the  Pelicans  kept  in  the  menagerie 
of  the  Zoological  Society  or  elsewhere;  and  the 
instance  just  recorded  was  probably  caused  by  local 
irritation. 

Of  the  same  genus  as  the  Pelican  is  the  Cormo- 
rant, an  inhabitant  of  Europe  generally  and  of 
America.  It  swims  very  deep  in  the  water;  even 
in  the  sea  very  little  more  than  the  neck  and  head 
are  visible  above  the  surface.  It  is  a  most  expert 
diver,  pursuing  the  fish  which  forms  its  food  with 
great  activity  under  water ;  it  is  said  to  be  very 
fond  of  eels.  It  perches  on  trees,  where  it  occa- 
sionally builds  its  nests,  but  it  mostly  selects  rocky 
shores  and  islands.  Upon  the  Fern  Islands  its  nest 
is  composed  of  a  mass  of  sea-weed,  frequently  heaped 
up  to  the  height  of  two  feet.  The  species  is  easily 
domesticated ;  and  its  docility  is  shown  by  the  use 
often  made  of  Cormorants  in  fishing.  Willughby, 
quoting  Faber,  says  : — "  They  are  wont  in  Eng- 
land to  train  up  Cormorants  to  fishing.  When 
they  carry  them  out  of  the  room  where  they  are 
kept  they  take  off  their  hoods,  and  having  tied  a 
leather  thong  round  the  lower  part  of  their  necks, 
that  they  may  not  swallow  down  the  fish  they  catch, 
they  throw  them  into  the  river.  They  presently 
dive  under  water,  and  there  for  a  long  time,  with 
wonderful  swiftness,  pursue  the  fish,  and  when  they 
have  caught  them  they  arise  presently  to  the  top 
of  the  water,  and  pressing  the  fish  tightly  with  the 


PELICANS    AND    CORMORANTS. 

bills,  they  swallow  them,  till  each  bird  hath  after 
this  manner  devoured  five  or  six  fishes.  Then  their 
keepers  call  them  to  the  fish,  to  which  they  readily 
fly,  and  little  by  little,  one  after  another,  vomit  up 
all  the  fish,  a  little  bruised  with  the  nip  they  gave 
them  with  their  bills."  When  they  have  done 
fishing  they  loosen  the  string  from  the  birds'  necks, 
and  for  their  reward  they  throw  them  part  of  the 
prey  they  have  caught,  to  each,  perchance,  one  or  two 
fishes,  which  they  catch  most  dexterously  in  their 
mouths  as  they  are  falling  in  the  air.  Pennant 
quotes  Whitelock,  who  said  that  he  had  a  cast  of 
them,  manned  like  hawks,  and  which  would  come 
to  hand.  He  took  much  pleasure  in  them,  and 
relates  that  the  best  he  had  was  one  presented  him 
by  Mr.  Wood,  master  of  the  corvorants  (as  the  older 
name  was)  to  Charles  I.  Pennant  adds,  it  is  well 
known  that  the  Chinese  make  great  use  of  a  con- 
generous sort  in  fishing,  and  that  not  for  amusement 
but  profit. 

Sir  George  Staunton,  in  his  account  of  his 
Embassy  to  China,  describes  the  place  where  the 
Leu-tze,  or  famed  fishing-bird  of  China,  is  bred  and 
instructed  in  the  art  and  practice  of  supplying  his 
owner  with  fish  in  great  abundance.  The  bird,  a 
Cormorant,  is  figured  in  Sir  George's  work,  with 
two  Chinese  fishermen  carrying  their  light  boat, 
around  the  gunnel  of  which  their  Cormorants  are 
perched  by  a  pole  resting  on  their  shoulders  be- 
tween them.  On  a  large  lake  are  thousands  of 
small  boats  and  rafts  built  entirely  for  this  species 


PELICANS    AND    CORMORANTS.  203 

of  fishery.  On  each  boat  or  raft  are  ten  or  a  dozen 
birds,  which,  on  a  signal  from  the  owner,  plunge 
into  the  water;  and  it  is  astonishing  to  see  the 
enormous  size  of  fish  with  which  they  return  grasped 
between  their  bills.  They  appeared  to  be  so  well 
trained  that  it  did  not  require  either  ring  or  cord 
about  their  throats  to  prevent  them  from  swallowing 
any  portion  of  their  prey  except  what  the  master 
was  pleased  to  return  to  them  for  encouragement 
and  food.  The  boat  used  by  these  fishermen  is 
remarkably  light,  and  is  often  carried  to  the  lake, 
together  with  the  fishing-birds,  by  the  men  who  are 
there  to  be  supported  by  it. 

Belon  gives  an  amusing  account  of  the  chase  of 
this  bird  during  calms,  especially  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Venice :  the  hunt  is  carried  on  in  very 
light  boats,  each  of  which  being  rowed  by  five  or 
six  men,  darts  along  the  sea  like  the  bolt  from  an 
arbalest,  till  the  poor  Cormorant,  who  is  shot  at 
with  bows  as  soon  as  he  puts  his  head  above  water, 
and  cannot  take  flight  after  diving  to  suffocation, 
is  taken  quite  tired  out  by  his  pursuers. 

Cormorant  fishing  has  occasionally  been  reintro- 
duced  upon  our  rivers.  In  1848  there  were  brought 
from  Holland  four  tame  Cormorants,  which  had 
been  trained  to  the  Chinese  mode  of  fishing.  Upon 
one  occasion  they  fished  three  miles  on  a  river™,  and 
cau'ght  a  pannier-full  of  trout  and  eels.  A  ring 
placed  round  their  necks  to  prevent  them  from 
swallowing  large  fish,  but  which  leaves  them  at 
liberty  to  gulp  down  anything  not  exceeding  the 


204  PELICANS    AND    CORMORANTS. 

size  of  a  gudgeon.  The  birds  on  these  occasions 
are  put  into  such  parts  of  the  river  as  are  known 
to  be  favourite  haunts  of  fish;  and  their  activity 
under  water  in  pursuit  of  fish  can  be  compared  to 
nothing  so  appropriate  as  a  swallow  darting  after 
a  fly. 

Blumenbach  tells  us  the  Cormorant  occasionally 
increases  in  a  few  years  to  many  thousands  on  coasts 
where  it  was  previously  unknown.  It  varies  much 
both  in  size  and  colour.  The  late  Joshua  Brookes, 
the  surgeon,  possessed  a  Cormorant,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  the  Zoological  Society. 

The  Cormorant  has  a  small  sabre-shaped  bone  at 
the  back  of  its  vertex;  which  bone  may  serve  as  a 
lever  in  throwing  back  the  head,  when  the  animal 
tosses  the  fishes  into  the  air  and  catches  them  in  its 
open  mouth.  The  same  motion  is,  however,  per- 
formed by  some  piscivorous  birds,  which  are  not  pro- 
vided with  this  particular  bone. 

Aubrey,  in  his  "Natural  History  of  Wilts," 
quotes  the  following  weather  presage  from  May's 
"  Virgil's  Georgics  "  : — 

"  The  seas  are  ill  to  sailors  evermore 
When  Cormorants  fly  crying  to  the  shore." 


TALKING  BIKDS,  ETC. 


1ETAIN  birds  are  known  to  utter  strange 
sounds,  the  origin  of  which  has  much  puzzled 
the  ornithologists.  The  Brown  Owl  which 
hoots,  is  hence  called  the  Screech  Owl :  a  musical 
friend  of  Gilbert  White  tried  all  the  Owls  that  were 
his  near  neighbours  with  a  pitch-pipe  set  at  a  con- 
cert pitch,  and  found  they  all  hooted  in  B  flat ;  and 
he  subsequently  found  that  neither  Owls  nor  Cuckoos 
keep  to  one  note.  The  Whidah  Bird,  one  of  the 
most  costly  of  cage-birds,  rattles  its  tail-feathers 
with  a  noise  somewhat  resembling  that  made  by 
the  rattle-snake.  The  Chinese  Starling,  in  China 
called  Longuoy,  in  captivity  is  very  teachable,  imi- 
tating words,  and  even  whistling  tunes :  we  all 
remember  Sterne's  Starling.  The  Piping  Crow, 
to  be  seen  in  troops  in  the  Blue  Mountains,  is 
named  from  its  ready  mimicry  of  other  birds :  its 
imitation  of  the  chucking  and  cackling  of  a  hen 
and  the  crowing  of  a  cock,  as  well  as  its  whistling 
of  tunes,  are  described  as  very  perfect :  its  native 


206  TALKING    BIKDS. 

note  is  said  to  be  a  loud  whistle.  The  Blue  Jay 
turns  his  imitative  faculty  to  treacherous  account : 
lie  so  closely  imitates  the  St.  Domingo  Falcon  as  to 
deceive  even  those  acquainted  with  both  birds ;  and 
the  Falcon  no  sooner  appears  in  their  neighbour- 
hood than  the  jays  swarm  around  him  and  insult 
him  with  their  imitative  cries ;  for  which  they 
frequently  fall  victims  to  his  appetite.  The  Bull- 
finch, according  to  Blumenbach,  learns  to  whistle 
tunes,  to  sing  in  parts,  and  even  to  pronounce 
words.  The  note  of  the  Crowned  Crane  has  been 
compared  by  Buffon  to  the  hoarseness  of  a  trumpet ; 
it  also  clucks  like  a  hen.  Mr.  Wallace,  in  his 
"  Travels  on  the  Amazon,"  saw  a  bird  about  the 
size  and  colour  of  the  Raven,  which  uttered  a  loud, 
hoarse  cry,  like  some  deep  musical  instrument, 
whence  its  Indian  name,  Ueratnioube,  Trumpet 
Bird :  it  inhabits  the  flooded  islands  of  the  Rio 
Negro  and  the  Solimoes,  never  appearing  on  the 
mainland.*  The  only  sound  produced  by  Storks 

*  The  popular  name  of  this  bird  is  the  Umbrella  Bird. 
On  its  head  it  bears  a  crest,  different  from  that  of  any  other 
bird.  It  is  formed  of  feathers  more  than  two  inches  long, 
very  thickly  set,  and  with  hairy  plumes  curving  over  at  the 
end.  These  can  be  laid  back  so  as  to  be  hardly  visible,  or 
can  be  erected  and  spread  out  on  every  side,  forming  a  dome 
completely  covering  the  head,  and  even  reaching  beyond  the 
point  of  the  beak  ;  the  individual  feathers  then  stand  out 
something  like  the  down-bearing  seeds  of  the  dandelion. 
Besides  this,  there  is  another  ornamental  appendage  on  the 
breast,  formed  by  a  fleshy  tubercle,  as  thick  as  a  quill  and  an 
inch  and  a-half  long,  which  hangs  down  from  the  neck,  and 


TALKING    BIRDS.  207 

is  by  snapping  their  bills.     The  Night  Heron   is 
called  the  Qua  BircL  from  its  note  Qua. 

The  Bittern,  the  English  provincial  names  of 
which  are  the  Mire-drum,  Bull  of  the  Bog,  &c., 
is  so  called  for  the  bellowing  or  drumming  noise  or 
booming  for  which  the  bird  is  so  famous.  This 
deep  note  of  the  "  hollow- sounding  Bittern  "  is 
exerted  on  the  ground  at  the  breeding  season,  about 
February  or  March.  As  the  day  declines  he  leaves 
his  haunt,  and,  rising  spirally,  soars  to  a  great  height 
in  the  twilight.  Willughby  says  that  it  performs 
this  last-mentioned  feat  in  the  autumn,  "  making  a 
singular  kind  of  noise,  nothing  like  to  lowing." 
Bewick  says  that  it  soars  as  above  described  when 
it  changes  its  haunts.  Ordinarily  it  flies  heavily, 
like  the  Heron,  uttering  from  time  to  time  a  re- 
sounding cry,  not  bellowing ;  and  then  Willughby, 
who  well  describes  the  bellowing  noise  of  the  breeding 
season,  supposes  it  to  be  the  Night  Raven,  at  whose 
"deadly  voice  "  the  superstitious  wayfarer  of  the  night 
turned  pale  and  trembled.  "  This,  without  doubt/' 
writes  Willughby,  "  is  that  bird  our  common  people 
call  the  Night  Raven,  and  have  such  a  dread  of, 
imagining  its  cry  portends  no  less  than  their  death 
or  the  death  of  some  of  their  near  relations ;  for  it 
flies  in  the  night,  answers  their  description  of  being 
like  a  flagging  collar,  and  hath  such  a  kind  of  hoop- 
is  thickly  covered  with  glossy  feathers,  forming  a  large 
pendent  plume  or  tassel.  This,  also,  the  bird  can  either 
press  to  its  breast,  so  as  to  be  scarcely  visible,  or  can  swell 
out  so  as  almost  to  conceal  the  forepart  of  its  body. 


208  TALKING    BIRDS. 

ing  cry  as  they  talk  of."  Others,  with  some 
reason,  consider  the  Qua  Bird  already  mentioned 
(which  utters  a  loud  and  most  disagreeable  noise 
when  on  the  wing,  conveying  the  idea  of  the  agonies 
of  a  person  attempting  to  vomit)  to  be  the  true  Night 
Raven.  The  Bittern  was  well  known  to  the  ancients, 
and  Aristotle  mentions  the  fable  of  its  origin  from 
staves  metamorphosed  into  birds.  The  long  claw  of 
the  hind  toe  is  much  prized  as  a  toothpick,  and  in 
the  olden  times  it  was  thought  to  have  the  property 
of  preserving  the  teeth. 

The  Greater-billed  Butcher  Bird,  from  New  Hol- 
land, has  extraordinary  powers  of  voice  :  it  is  trained 
for  catching  small  birds,  and  it  is  said  to  imitate 
the  notes  of  some  other  birds  by  way  of  decoying 
them  to  their  destruction. 

The  mere  imitative  sounds  of  Parrots  are  of  little 
interest  compared  with  the  instances  of  instinct,  ap- 
parently allied  to  reason,  which  are  related  of  indi- 
viduals. Of  this  tribe  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics are  a  hooked  bill,  the  upper  mandible  of 
which  is  moveable  as  well  as  the  lower,  and  not  in 
one  piece  with  the  skull,  as  in  most  other  birds,  but 
joined  to  the  head  by  a  strong  membrane,  with  which 
the  bird  lifts  it  or  lets  it  fall  at  pleasure.  The  bill 
is  also  round  on  the  outside  and  hollow  within,  and 
has,  in  some  degree,  the  capacity  of  a  mouth,  allow- 
ing the  tongue,  which  is  thick  and  fleshy,  to  play 
freely ;  while  the  sound,  striking  against  the  circular 
border  of  the  lower  mandible,  reflects  it  like  a 
palate  :  hence  the  animal  does  not  utter  a  whistling 


TALKING    BIRDS.  209 

sound,  but  a  full  articulation.  The  tongue,  which 
modulates  all  sounds,  is  proportionally  larger  than 
in  man. 

The  Wild  Swan  has  a  very  loud  call,  and  utters  a 
melancholy  cry  when  one  of  the  flock  is  killed ;  hence 
it  was  said  by  the  poets  to  sing  its  own  dying  dirge. 
Such  was  the  popular  belief  in  olden  times;  and, 
looking  to  the  anatomical  characteristics  of  the 
species,  it  was,  in  some  degree,  supported  by  the 
more  inflated  windpipe  of  the  wild  when  compared 
with  that  of  the  tame  species.  The  Song  of  the 
Swan  is,  however,  irreconcileable  with  sober  belief, 
the  only  noise  of  the  Wild  Swan  of  our  times  being 
unmelodious,  and  an  unpleasing  monotony. 

The  Laughing  Gfoose  is  named  from  its  note  having 
some  resemblance  to  the  laugh  of  man ;  and  not,  as 
Wilson  supposes,  from  the  grinning  appearance  of 
its  mandibles.  The  Indians  imitate  its  cry  by 
moving  the  hand  quickly  against  the  lips,  whilst 
they  repeat  the  syllable  wah. 

The  Cuckoo  may  be  said  to  have  done  much 
for  musical  science,  because  from  that  bird  has  been 
derived  the  minor  scale,  the  origin  of  which  has 
puzzled  so  many ;  the  Cuckoo's  couplet  being  the 
minor  third  sung  downwards. 

The  Germans  are  the  finest  appreciators  of  the 
Nightingale ;  and  it  is  a  fact,  that  when  the  Prus- 
sian authorities,  under  pecuniary  pressure,  were  about 
to  cut  down  certain  trees  near  Cologne,  which  were 
frequented  by  Nightingales,  the  alarmed  citizens 
purchased  the  trees  in  order  to  save  the  birds  and 

o 


210  TALKING    BIRDS. 

keep  their  music.  Yet  one  would  think  the  music 
hardly  worth  having,  if  it  really  sounded  as  it  looks 
upon  paper,  transcribed  thus  by  Bechstein,  from 
whom  it  is  quoted  by  Broderip  : — 

Zozozozozozozozozozozozo  zirrhading 
Hezezezezezezezezezezezezezezeze  cowar  ho  dze  hoi 
Higaigaigaigaigaigaigaigaigaigai,  guaiagai  coricor  dzio 
dzio  pi.* 

M.  Wichterich,  of  Bonn,  remarks  : — "  It  is  a  vulgar 
error  to  suppose  that  the  song  of  the  Nightingale  is 
melancholy,  and  that  it  only  sings  by  night.  There 
are  two  varieties  of  the  Nightingale ;  one  which  sings 
both  in  the  night  and  the  day,  and  one  which  sings 
in  the  day  only." 

In  the  year  1858,  Mr.  Leigh  Sotheby,  in  a  letter 
to  Dr.  Gray,  of  the  British  Museum,  described  a 
marvellous  little  specimen  of  the  feathered  tribe — a 
Talking  Canary.  Its  parents  had  previously  and 
successfully  reared  many  young  ones,  but  three  years 
before  they  hatched  only  one  out  of  four  eggs,  the 
which  they  immediately  neglected,  by  commenc- 
ing the  rebuilding  of  a  nest  on  the  top  of  it.  Upon 
this  discovery,  the  unfledged  and  forsaken  bird,  all 
but  dead,  was  taken  away  and  placed  in  flannel  by 
the  fire,  when,  after  much  attention,  it  was  restored, 
and  then  brought  up  by  hand.  Thus  treated,  and 
away  from  all  other  birds,  it  became  familiarised  only 
with  those  who  fed  it ;  consequently,  its  first  singing 
notes  were  of  a  character  totally  different  to  those 
usual  with  the  Canary. 

*  "  Athenajum,"  No.  1467. 


TALKING    BIRDS.  211 

Constantly  being  talked  to,  the  bird,  when  about 
three  months  old,  astonished  its  mistress  by  repeat- 
ing the  endearing  terms  used  in  talking  to  it,  such 
as  "  Kissie,  kissie,"  with  its  significant  sounds.  This 
went  on,  and  from  time  to  time  the  little  bird  re- 
peated other  words ;  and  then,  for  hours  together, 
except  during  the  moulting  season,  it  astonished  by 
ringing  the  changes,  according  to  its  own  fancy,  and 
as  plainly  as  any  human  voice  could  articulate  them, 
on  the  several  words,  "Dear  sweet  Titchie"  (its 
name),  "kiss  Minnie,"  "Kiss  me,  then,  dear  Minnie," 
"  Sweet  pretty  little  Titchie,"  "  Kissie,  kissie,  kissie," 
"  Dear  Titchie,"  "  Titchie  wee,  gee,  gee,  gee,  Titchie, 
Titchie." 

The  usual  singing-notes  of  the  bird  were  more  of 
the  character  of  the  Nightingale,  mingled  occa- 
sionally with  the  sound  of  the  dog-whistle  used  about 
the  house.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add,  that  the 
bird  was  by  nature  remarkably  tame. 

In  1839,  a  Canary-bird,  capable  of  distinct  articu- 
lation, was  exhibited  in  Regent-street.  The  follow- 
ing were  some  of  its  sentences : — "  Sweet  pretty 
dear,"  "Sweet  pretty  dear  Dicky,"  "Mary,"  "Sweet 
pretty  little  Dicky  dear ;"  and  often  in  the  course  of 
the  day,  "Sweet  pretty  Queen."  The  bird  also 
imitated  the  jarring  of  a  wire,  the  ringing  of  a  bell ; 
it  was  three  years  old,  and  was  reared  by  a  lady  who 
never  allowed  it  to  be  in  the  company  of  other  birds. 
This  Canary  died  in  October,  1839 ;  it  was,  it  is  be- 
lieved, the  only  other  talking  instance  publicly  known. 

We  read  of  some  experiments  made  in  the  rearing 
o  2 


212  TALKING    BIRDS. 

of  birds  at  Kendal  by  a  bird-fancier,  the  result  of 
which  was,  that  upwards  of  20  birds  —  Canaries, 
Greenfinches,  Linnets,  Chaffinches,  Titlarks,  and 
Whitethroats — were  reared  in  one  cage  by  a  pair 
of  Canaries.  The  experiments  were  continued  until 
the  extraordinary  number  of  thirty-eight  birds  had 
been  brought  up  within  two  months  by  the  Canaries. 
It  may  be  worth  while  to  enumerate  them. 

In  the  month  of  June  the  Canaries — the  male 
green,  and  the  female  piebald — were  caged  for  the 
purpose  of  breeding.  The  female  laid  five  eggs,  and 
while  she  was  sitting  a  Greenfinch  egg  was  intro- 
duced into  the  nest.  All  of  these  were  hatched,  and 
the  day  after  incubation  was  completed  five  Grey 
Linnets,  also  newly  hatched,  were  put  into  the  cage, 
in  their  own  nest.  Next  day  a  newly-hatched  nest 
of  four  Chaffinches  was  also  introduced ;  and  after- 
wards five  different  nests,  consisting  of  six  Titlarks, 
six  Whitethroats,  three  Skylarks,  three  Winchars, 
and  three  Blackcaps.  While  rearing  the  last  of  these 
nests,  the  female  Canary  again  laid  and  hatched  four 
eggs,  thus  making  thirty-eight  young  birds  brought 
up  by  the  pair  of  Canaries.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
most  of  these  birds  are  soft-billed,  whose  natural 
food  is  small  insects ;  but  they  took  quite  kindly  to 
the  seeds  upon  which  they  were  fed  by  their  step- 
parents. The  pair  of  Canaries  fed  at  one  time 
twenty-one  young  birds,  and  never  had  less  than 
sixteen  making  demands  upon  their  care ;  and  while 
the  female  was  hatching  her  second  nest  she  con- 
tinued to  feed  the  birds  that  occupied  the  other  nest. 


TALKING    BIRDS.  213 

Of  the  origin  of  the  neighing  sound  which  accom- 
panies the  single  Snipe's  play-flight  during  pairing- 
time,  opinions  are  various.  Bechstein  thought  it  was 
produced  by  means  of  the  beak ;  Naumann  and  others, 
again,  that  it  originated  in  powerful  strokes  of  the 
wing.  Pratt,  in  Hanover,  observing  that  the  bird 
makes  heard  its  well-known  song  or  cry,  which  he 
expresses  with  the  words,  "  gick  jack,  gick  jack ! "  at 
the  same  time  with  the  neighing  sound,  it  seemed  to 
be  settled  that  the  latter  is  not  produced  through  the 
throat.  In  the  meantime,  M.  Meves,  of  Stockholm, 
remarked  with  surprise,  that  the  humming  sound 
could  never  be  observed  whilst  the  bird  was  flying 
upwards,  at  which  time  the  tail  is  closed ;  but  only 
when  it  was  casting  itself  downwards  in  a  slanting 
direction,  with  the  tail  strongly  spread  out. 

M.  Meves  has  written  for  the  Zoological  Society  a 
paper  upon  the  origin  of  this  sound,  which  all  the 
field-naturalists  and  sportsmen  of  England  and  other 
countries  had,  for  the  previous  century,  been  trying 
to  make  out,  but  had  failed  to  discover.  Of  this 
paper  the  following  is  an  abstract : — 

The  peculiar  form  of  the  tail-feathers  in  some  foreign 
species  nearly  allied  to  our  Snipe  encouraged  the  notion  that 
the  tail  conduced  to  the  production  of  the  sound.  M.  Meves 
found  the  tail-feathers  of  our  common  Snipe,  in  the  first 
feather  especially,  very  peculiarly  constructed  ;  the  shaft 
uncommonly  stiff  and  sabre-shaped  ;  the  rays  of  the  web 
strongly  bound  together  and  very  long,  the  longest  reaching 
nearly  three-fourths  of  the  whole  length  of  the  web,  these 
rays  lying  along  or  spanning  from  end  to  end  of  the  curve  of 
the  shaft,  like  the  strings  of  a  musical  instrument.  If  you  blow 


214  TALKING    BIRDS. 

from  the  outer  side  upon  the  broad  web.  it  comes  into  vibra- 
tion, and  a  sound  is  heard,  which,  though  fainter,  resembles 
very  closely  the  well-known  neighing. 

But  to  convince  yourself  fully  that  it  is  the  first  feather 
which  produces  the  peculiar  sound,  it  is  only  necessary  care- 
fully to  pluck  out  such  an  one,  to  fasten  its  shaft  with  fine 
thread  to  a  piece  of  steel  wire  a  tenth  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
and  a  foot  long,  and  then  to  fix  this  at  the  end  of  a  four-foot 
stick.  If  now  you  draw  the  feather,  with  this  outer  side  for- 
ward, sharply  through  the  air,  at  the  same  time  making  some 
short  movements  or  shakings  of  the  arm,  so  as  to  represent 
the  shivering  motion  of  the  wings  during  flight,  you  produce 
the  neighing  sound  with  the  most  astonishing  exactness. 

If  you  wish  to  hear  the  humming  of  both  feathers  at  once, 
as  must  be  the  case  from  the  flying  bird,  this  also  can  be 
managed  by  a  simple  contrivance.  Take  a  small  stick,  and 
fasten  at  the  side  of  the  smaller  end  a  piece  of  burnt  steel 
wire  in  the  form  of  a  fork  ;  bind  to  each  point  a  side  tail- 
feather  ;  bend  the  wire  so  that  the  feathers  receive  the  same 
direction  which  they  do  in  the  spreading  of  the  tail  as  the 
bird  sinks  itself  in  flight  ;  and  then,  with  this  apparatus, 
draw  the  feathers  through  the  air  as  before.  Such  a  sound, 
but  in  another  tone,  is  produced  when  we  experiment  with 
the  tail-feathers  of  other  kinds  of  Snipe. 

Since  in  both  sexes  these  feathers  have  the  same  form,  it  is 
clear  that  both  can  produce  the  same  humming  noise  ;  but  as 
the  feathers  of  the  hen  are  generally  less  than  those  of  the 
cock-bird,  the  noise  made  by  them  is  not  so  deep  as  in  the 
other  case. 

Besides  the  significance  which  these  tail-feathers  have  as  a 
kind  of  musical  instrument,  their  form  may  give  a  weighty 
character  in  the  determination  of  a  species  standing  very  near 
one  another,  which  have  been  looked  upon  as  varieties. 

This  interesting  discovery  was  first  announced  by 
M.  Meves  in  an  account  of  the  birds  observed  by 
himself  during  a  visit  to  the  Island  of  Grottland,  in 


TALKING    BIRDS.  215 

the  summer  of  the  year  1856,  which  narrative  was 
published  at  Stockholm  in  the  following  winter.  In 
the  succeeding  summer,  M.  Meves  showed  his  expe- 
riments to  Mr.  Wolley,  whose  services  to  Orni- 
thology we  have  already  noticed.  The  mysterious 
noise  of  the  wilderness  was  reproduced  in  a  little 
room  in  the  middle  of  Stockholm :  first,  the  deep 
bleat,  now  shown  to  proceed  from  the  male  Snipe, 
and  then  the  fainter  bleat  of  the  female,  both  most 
strikingly  true  to  nature,  neither  producible  with  any 
other  feathers  than  the  outer  ones  of  the  tail. 

Mr.  Wolley  inquired  of  Mr.  Meves  how,  issuing 
forth  from  the  town  on  a  summer  ramble,  he  came  to 
discover  what  had  puzzled  the  wits  and  strained  the 
eyes  of  so  many  observers.  He  freely  explained 
how,  in  a  number  of  "  Naumannia,"  an  accidental 
misprint  of  the  word  representing  tail-feathers 
instead  of  wing-feathers, — a  mistake  which  another 
author  ridiculed — first  led  him  to  think  on  the  sub- 
ject. He  subsequently  examined  in  the  Museum  at 
Stockholm  the  tail-feathers  of  various  species  of 
Snipe,  remarked  their  structure,  and  reasoned  upon 
it.  Then  he  blew  upon  them,  and  fixed  them  on 
levers  that  he  might  wave  them  with  greater  force 
through  the  air;  and  at  the  same  time  he  made 
more  careful  observation  than  he  had  hitherto  done  in 
the  living  birds.  In  short,  in  him  the  obscure  hint 
was  thrown  upon  fruitful  ground,  whilst  in  a  hun- 
dred other  minds  it  had  failed  to  come  to  light. 

Dr.  Walsh  saw  at  Constantinople  a  Woodpecker, 
about  the  size  of  a  Thrush,  which  was  very  active 


216  TALKING    BIRDS. 

in  devouring  flies,  and  tapped  woodwork  with  his 
bill  with  a  noise  as  loud  as  that  of  a  hammer,  to  dis- 
turb the  insects  concealed  therein,  so  as  to  seize 
upon  them  when  they  appeared. 

Among  remarkable  bird  services  should  not  be 
forgotten  those  of  the  Trochilos  to  the  Crocodile. 
"  When  the  Crocodile,"  says  Herodotus,  "  feeds  in 
the  Nile,  the  inside  of  his  mouth  is  always  covered 
with  bdella  (a  term  which  the  translators  have  ren- 
dered by  that  of  leech).  All  birds,  except  one,  fly 
from  the  Crocodile ;  but  this  one  bird,  the  Trochilos, 
on  the  contrary,  flies  towards  him  with  the  greatest 
eagerness,  and  renders  him  a  very  great  service ;  for 
every  time  that  the  Crocodile  comes  to  the  land  to 
sleep,  and  when  he  lies  stretched  out  with  his  j  aws 
open,  the  Trochilos  enters  and  establishes  himself 
in  his  mouth,  and  frees  him  from  the  bdella  which 
he  finds  there.  The  Crocodile  is  grateful,  and 
never  does  any  harm  to  the  little  bird  who  performs 
for  him  this  office." 

This  passage  was  long  looked  upon  as  a  pleasant 
story,  and  nothing  more;  until  M.  Geoffroy  St. 
Hilaire,  during  his  long  residence  in  Egypt,  ascer- 
tained the  story  of  Herodotus  to  be  correct  in  sub- 
stance, but  inexact  in  details.  It  is  perfectly  true 
that  a  little  bird  does  exist,  which  flies  incessantly 
from  place  to  place,  searching  everywhere,  even  in 
the  Crocodile's  mouth,  for  the  insects  which  form 
the  principal  part  of  its  nourishment.  This  bird  is 
seen  everywhere  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and  M. 
Geoffroy  has  proved  it  to  be  of  a  species  already 


TALKING    BIRDS.  217 

described  by  Hasselquist,  and  very  like  the  small 
winged  Plover.  If  the  Trochilos  be  in  reality  the 
little  Plover,  the  bdella  cannot  be  leeches,  (which 
do  not  exist  in  the  running  waters  of  the  Nile) 
but  the  small  insects  known  as  gnats  in  Europe. 
Myriads  of  these  insects  dance  upon  the  Nile  :  they 
attack  the  Crocodile  upon  the  inner  surface  of  his 
palate,  and  sting  the  orifice  of  the  glands,  which 
are  numerous  in  the  Crocodile's  mouth.  Then  the 
little  Plover,  who  follows  him  everywhere,  delivers 
him  from  these  troublesome  enemies;  and  that 
without  any  danger  to  himself,  for  the  Crocodile 
is  always  careful,  when  he  is  going  to  shut  his 
mouth,  to  make  some  motion  which  warns  the  little 
bird  to  fly  away.  At  St.  Domingo  there  is  a 
Crocodile  which  very  nearly  resembles  that  of 
Egypt.  This  Crocodile  is  attacked  by  gnats,  from 
which  he  would  have  no  means  of  delivering  him- 
self (his  tongue,  like  that  of  the  Crocodile,  being 
fixed)  if  a  bird  of  a  particular  species  did  not  give 
him  the  same  assistance  that  the  Crocodile  of  the 
Nile  receives  from  the  little  Plover.  These  facts 
explain  the  passage  in  Herodotus,  and  demonstrate 
that  the  animal,  there  called  bdella,  is  not  a  leech, 
but  a  flying  insect  similar  to  our  gnat. 

Exemplifications  of  instinct,  intelligence,  and 
reason  in  Birds  are  by  no  means  rare,  but  this  dis- 
tinction must  be  made  :  instinctive  actions  are  de- 
pendent on  the  nerves,  intelligence  on  the  brain ; 
but  that  which  constitutes  peculiar  qualities  of  the 
mind  in  man  has  no  material  organ.  The  Rev.  Mr. 


218  TALKING    BIRDS. 

Statham  has  referred  to  the  theory  of  the  facial 
angle  as  indicative  of  the  amount  of  sagacity 
observable  in  the  animal  race,  but  has  expressed 
his  opinion  that  the  theory  is  utterly  at  fault  in  the 
case  of  Birds ;  many  of  these  having  a  very  acute 
facial  angle  being  considerably  more  intelligent 
than  others  having  scarcely  any  facial  angle  at  all. 
Size  also  seems  to  present  another  anomaly  between 
the  two  races  of  Beasts  and  Birds;  for  while  the 
Elephant  and  the  Horse  are  among  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  quadrupeds  for  sagacity  and  instinct, 
the  larger  Birds  seem  scarcely  comparable  to  the 
smaller  ones  in  the  possession  of  these  attributes. 
The  writer  instances  this  by  comparing  the  Ostrich 
and  the  Goose  with  the  Wren,  the  Robin,  the 
Canary,  the  Pigeon,  and  the  Crow ;  and  amusingly 
alludes  to  the  holding  of  parliaments  or  convoca- 
tions of  birds  of  the  last  species,  while  the  Ostrich 
is  characterised  in  Scripture  as  the  type  of  folly. 

The  author  then  refers  to  the  poisoning  of  two 
young  Blackbirds  by  the  parent  birds,  when  they 
found  that  they  could  neither  liberate  them  nor  per- 
manently share  their  captivity.  The  two  fledglings 
had  been  taken  from  a  Blackbirds'  nest  in  Surrey- 
square,  and  had  been  placed  in  a  room  looking  over 
a  garden,  in  a  wicker  cage.  For  some  time  the  old 
birds  attended  to  their  wants,  visited  them  regularly, 
and  fed  them  with  appropriate  food;  but,  at  last, 
getting  wearied  of  the  task,  or  despairing  of  effect- 
ing their  liberation,  they  appear  to  have  poisoned 
them.  They  were  both  found  suddenly  dead  one 


TALKING    BIRDS.  219 

morning,  shortly  after  having  been  seen  in  good 
health ;  and  on  opening  their  bodies  a  small  leaf, 
supposed  to  be  that  of  Solanum  Nigrum,  was  found 
in  the  stomach  of  each.  The  old  birds  immediately 
deserted  the  spot,  as  though  aware  of  the  nefarious 
deed  befitting  their  name. 

As  an  exemplification  of  instinct  Dr.  Horner 
states  that  Rooks  built  on  the  Infirmary  trees  at 
Hull,  but  never  over  the  street.  One  year,  how- 
ever, a  young  couple  ventured  to  build  here  :  for 
eight  mornings  in  succession  the  old  Books  pro- 
ceeded to  destroy  the  nest,  when  at  last  the  young 
ones  chose  a  more  fitting  place. 

Mr.  A.  Strickland,  having  referred  to  the  ten- 
dency of  birds  to  build  their  nests  of  materials  of  a 
colour  resembling  that  around  such  nests,  relates  an 
instance  in  which  the  Fly-catcher  built  in  a  red 
brick  wall,  and  used  for  the  nest  mahogany  shavings. 
Referring  to  the  meeting  of  Rooks  for  judicial  pur- 
poses, Mr.  Strickland  states  that  he  once  saw  a 
Rook  tried  in  this  way,  and  ultimately  killed  by  the 
rest. 

SONGS    OF    BIRDS    AND    SEASONS    OF    THE    DAY. 

Although  nearly  half  a  century  has  elapsed  since 
the  following  observations  were  communicated  to 
the  Royal  Society  by  Dr.  Jenner,  their  expressive 
character  is  as  charming  as  ever,  and  their  accuracy 
as  valuable : — 

"There  is  a  beautiful  propriety  in  the  order  in  which 
Singing  Birds  fill  up  the  day  with  their  pleasing  harmony. 
The  accordance  between  their  songs,  and  the  aspect  of  nature 


220  TALKING    BIRDS. 

at  the  successive  periods  of  the  day  at  which  they  sing,  is  so 
remarkable  that  one  cannot  but  suppose  it  to  be  the  result  of 
benevolent  design. 

"  From  the  Robin  (not  the  Lark,  as  has  been  generally 
imagined),  as  soon  as  twilight  has  drawn  its  imperceptible 
line  between  night  and  day,  begins  his  artless  song.  How 
sweetly  does  this  harmonize  with  the  soft  dawning  of  the 
day  !  He  goes  on  till  the  twinkling  sunbeams  begin  to  tell 
him  that  his  notes  no  longer  accord  with  the  rising  sun.  Up 
starts  the  Lark,  and  with  him  a  variety  of  sprightly  songsters, 
whose  lively  notes  are  in  perfect  correspondence  with  the 
gaiety  of  the  morning.  The  general  warbling  continues, 
with  now  and  then  an  interruption  by  the  transient  croak  of 
the  Raven,  the  scream  of  the  Jay,  or  the  pert  chattering  of 
the  Daw,  The  Nightingale,  unwearied  by  the  vocal  exer- 
tions of  the  night,  joins  his  inferiors  in  sound  in  the  general 
harmony.  The  Thrush  is  wisely  placed  on  the  summit  of 
some  lofty  tree,  that  its  piercing  notes  may  be  softened  by 
distance  before  it  reaches  the  ear,  while  the  mellow  Blackbird 
seeks  the  lower  branches. 

"  Should  the  sun,  having  been  eclipsed  by  a  cloud,  shine 
forth  with  fresh  effulgence,  how  frequently  we  see  the  Gold- 
finch perch  on  some  blossomed  bough,  and  hear  his  song 
poured  forth  in  a  strain  peculiarly  energetic  ;  while  the  sun, 
full  shining  on  his  beautiful  plumes,  displays  his  golden 
wings  and  crimson  crest  to  charming  advantage.  Indeed,  a 
burst  of  sunshine  in  a  cloudy  day,  or  after  a  heavy  shower, 
seems  always  to  wake  up  a  new  gladness  in  the  little 
musicians,  and  invite  them  to  an  answering  burst  of  min- 
strelsy. 

"As  evening  advances,  the  performers  gradually  retire, 
and  the  concert  softly  dies  away.  At  sunset  the  Robin  again 
sends  up  his  twilight  song,  till  the  still  more  serene  hour  of 
night  sends  him  to  his  bower  of  rest.  And  now,  in  unison 
with  the  darkened  earth  and  sky,  no  sooner  is  the  voice  of 
the  Robin  hushed,  than  the  Owl  sends  forth  his  slow  and 
solemn  tones,  well  adapted  to  the  serious  hour." 


OWLS. 


jHESE  nocturnal  birds  of  prey  have  large 
heads  and  great  projecting  eyes,  directing 
forwards,  and  surrounded  with  a  circle  of 
loose  and  delicate  feathers,  more  or  less  developed, 
according  to  the  nocturnal  or  comparatively  diurnal 
habits  of  the  species.  The  position  of  the  eyes, 
giving  a  particular  fulness  and  breadth  to  the  head, 
has  gained  for  the  Owl  the  intellectual  character 
so  universally  awarded  to  it.  The  concave  facial 
disc  of  feathers  with  which  they  are  surrounded 
materially  aids  vision  by  concentrating  the  rays  of 
light  to  an  intensity  better  suited  to  the  opacity  of 
the  medium  in  which  power  is  required  to  be  exer- 
cised. "  They  may  be  compared,"  says  Mr.  Yarrell, 
"to  a  person  near-sighted,  who  sees  objects  with 
superior  magnitude  and  brilliancy  when  within  the 
prescribed  limits  of  his  natural  powers  of  vision, 
from  the  increased  angle  these  objects  subtend." 
Their  beaks  are  completely  curved,  or  raptorial ; 
they  have  the  power  of  turning  the  outer  toe  either 


222  OWLS. 

backwards  or  forwards ;  they  fly  weakly,  and  near 
the  ground ;  but,  from  their  soft  plumage,  stealthily, 
stretching  out  their  hind  legs  that  they  may  balance 
their  large  and  heavy  heads.  Their  sense  of  hearing 
is  very  acute :  they  not  only  look,  but  listen  for 
prey. 

The  Owl  is  a  bird  of  mystery  and  gloom,  and  a 
special  favourite  with  plaintive  poets.  We  find  him 
with  Ariel : — 

"There  I  couch  when  Owls  do  cry." 

He  figures  in  the  nursery  rhyme  of  "  Cock  Robin." 
In  reply  to  "  Who  dug  his  grave  ?  " — 

"  I,  says  the  Owl,  with  my  little  shovel — 
I  dug  his  grave." 

He  hoots  over  graves,  and  his  dismal  note  adds  to 
the  terror  of  darkness  : — 

"  'Tis  the  middle  of  night  by  the  castle  clock, 
And  the  Owls  have  awakened  the  crowing  cock  ; 

Tu-whit!  tu-whoo! 
And  hark  again  the  crowing  cock, 
How  drowsily  it  crew. 


"  When  blood  is  nipt,  and  ways  be  foul, 
Then  nightly  sings  the  staring  Owl, 

Tu-whoo  ! 

Tu-whit !  tu-whoo !  a  merry  note, 
While  greasy  Joan  doth  keel  the  pot !  " 

Titania  sings  of 

"  The  clamorous  Owl,  that  nightly  hoots  and  wonders 
At  our  quaint  spirits." 


OWLS.  223 

Bishop  Hall  has  this  "  Occasional  Meditation  " 
upon  the  sight  of  an  Owl  in  the  twilight  : — "  What 
a  strange  melancholic  life  doth  this  creature  lead ; 
to  hide  her  head  all  the  day  long  in  an  ivy-bush,  and 
at  night,  when  all  other  birds  are  at  rest,  to  fly 
abroad  and  vent  her  harsh  notes.  I  know  not  why 
the  ancients  have  sacred  this  bird  to  wisdom,  except 
it  be  for  her  safe  closeness  and  singular  perspicuity ; 
that  when  other  domestrial  and  airy  creatures  are 
blind,  she  only  hath  insured  light  to  discern  the 
least  objects  for  her  own  advantage."  We  may  here 
note  that  Linnaeus,  with  many  other  naturalists  and 
antiquaries,  have  supposed  the  Horned  Owl  to  have 
been  the  bird  of  Minerva;  but  Blumenbach  has 
shown,  from  the  ancient  works  of  Grecian  art,  that 
it  was  not  this,  but  rather  some  smooth-headed 
species,  probably  the  Passerina,  or  Little  Owl. 

The  divine  has,  in  the  above  passage,  overstated 
the  melancholy  of  the  Owl;  as  has  also  the  poet, 
who  sings  :— 

"  From  yonder  ivy-mantled  tower 
The  moping  Owl  does  to  the  moon  complain 
Of  such  as,  wandering  near  her  secret  bower, 
Molest  her  ancient  solitary  reign." 

Shakspeare  more  accurately  terms  her  "the 
mousing  Owl,"  for  her  nights  are  spent  in  barns,  or 
in  hunting  and  devouring  sparrows  in  the  church- 
yard elms.  "Moping,  indeed!"  says  a  pleasing 
observer.  "  So  far  from  this,  she  is  a  sprightly, 
active  ranger  of  the  night,  who  had  as  lief  sit  on  a 


224  OWLS. 

grave  as  a  rose-bush ;  who  is  as  valiant  a  hunter  as 
Nimroud,  chasing  all  sorts  of  game,  from  the  dor- 
mouse to  the  hare  and  the  young  lamb,  and  devouring 
them,  while  her  mate  hoots  to  her  from  some  pictur- 
esque ruin,  and  invites  her,  when  supper  is  over,  to 
return  to  him  and  her  babes." 

But  the  tricks  of  the  Owl  by  night  render  her  the 
terror  of  all  other  birds,  great  and  small.  In 
Northern  Italy,  persons  in  rustic  districts  which  are 
well  wooded,  catch  and  tame  an  Owl,  put  a  light 
chain  upon  her  legs,  and  then  place  her  on  a  small 
cross-bar  on  the  top  of  a  high  pole,  which  is  fixed  in 
the  earth.  Half-blinded  by  the  light,  the  defenceless 
captive  has  to  endure  patiently  the  jeers  and  insults 
of  the  dastardly  tribes  from  the  surrounding  groves 
and  thickets,  who  issue  in  clouds  to  scream,  chirp, 
and  flit  about  their  enemy.  Some,  trusting  to  the 
swiftness  of  their  wings,  sweep  close  by,  and  peck 
at  her  feathers  as  they  pass,  and  are  sometimes 
punished  by  the  Owl  with  her  formidable  beak  for 
their  audacity.  Meanwhile,  from  darkened  windows, 
sportsmen,  with  fowling-pieces  well  charged  with 
shot,  fire  at  the  hosts  of  birds,  wheeling,  shrieking, 
screaming,  and  thickening  around  the  Owl.  All  the 
guns  are  fired  at  once,  and  the  grass  is  strewn  for 
many  yards  round  with  the  slain;  while  the  Owl, 
whom  they  have  been  careful  not  to  hit,  utters  a 
joyous  whoo  !  whoo  !  at  the  fate  of  her  persecutors. 

Major  Head  thus  describes  the  Biscacho,  or  Co- 
quimbo,  a  curious  species  of  Owl,  found  all  over  the 


OWLS.  225 

pampas  of  South  America  : — "  Like  rabbits,  they 
live  in  holes,  which  are  in  groups  in  every  direction. 
These  animals  are  never  seen  in  the  day,  but  as  soon 
as  the  lower  limb  of  the  sun  reaches  the  horizon, 
they  are  seen  issuing  from  the  holes.  The  Biscachos, 
when  full-grown,  are  nearly  as  big  as  badgers,  but 
their  head  resembles  a  rabbit's,  except  that  they  have 
large  bushy  whiskers.  In  the  evening  they  sit  out- 
side the  holes,  and  they  all  appear  to  be  moralizing. 
They  are  the  most  serious-looking  animals  I  ever 
saw ;  and  even  the  young  ones  are  grey-headed,  wear 
moustachios,  and  look  thoughtful  and  grave.  In 
the  daytime  their  holes  are  guarded  by  two  little 
owls,  which  are  never  an  instant  away  from  their 
posts.  As  one  gallops  by  these  owls,  they  always 
stand  looking  at  the  stranger,  and  then  at  each 
other,  moving  their  old-fashioned  heads  in  a  manner 
which  is  quite  ridiculous,  until  one  rushes  by  them, 
when  they  get  the  better  of  their  dignified  looks, 
and  they  both  run  into  the  Biscacho's  hole." 

Of  all  birds  of  prey,  Owls  are  the  most  useful  to 
man,  by  protecting  his  corn-fields,  or  granaried 
provision,  from  mice  and  numberless  vermin.  Yet, 
prejudice  has  perverted  these  birds  into  objects  of 
superstition  and  consequent  hate.  The  kind-hearted 
Mr.  Waterton  says  : — "  I  wish  that  any  little  thing 
I  could  write  or  say  might  cause  this  bird  to  stand 
better  with  the  world  at  large  than  it  has  hitherto 
done  ;  but  I  have  slender  hope  on  this  score,  because 
old  and  deep-rooted  prejudices  are  seldom  overcome ; 
and  when  I  look  back  into  annals  of  remote  anti- 


226  OWLS. 

quity,  I  see  too  clearly  that  defamation  has  done  its 
worst  to  ruin  the  whole  family,  in  all  its  branches, 
of  this  poor,  harmless,  "useful  friend  of  mine." 

The  Barn  Owl  is  common  throughout  Europe, 
known  in  Tartary,  and  rare  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  In  England  it  is  called  the  Barn  Owl,  the 
Church  Owl,  Gillihowlet,  and  Screech  Owl ;  the  last 
name  is  improperly  applied,  as  it  is  believed  not  to 
hoot,  though  Sir  "William  Jardine  asserts  that  he  has 
shot  it  in  the  act  of  hooting.  To  the  screech  super- 
stition has  annexed  ideas  of  fatal  portent ;  "but,"  says 
Charlotte  Smith,  "  it  has,  of  course,  no  more  fore- 
knowledge of  approaching  evil  to  man  than  the 
Lark :  its  cry  is  a  signal  to  its  absent  mate." 

"  If,"  says  Mr.  Waterton,  "  this  useful  bird  caught 
its  food  by  day  instead  of  hunting  for  it  by  night, 
mankind  would  have  ocular  demonstration  of  its 
utility  in  thinning  the  country  of  mice ;  and  it  would 
be  protected  and  encouraged  everywhere.  It  would 
be  with  us  what  the  Ibis  was  with  the  Egyptians. 
When  it  has  young,  it  will  bring  a  mouse  to  the  nest 
every  twelve  or  fifteen  minutes."  Mr.  Waterton  saw 
his  Barn  Owl  fly  away  with  a  rat  which  he  had  just 
shot ;  he  also  saw  her  drop  perpendicularly  into  the 
water,  and  presently  rise  out  of  it  with  a  fish  in  her 
claws,  which  she  took  to  her  nest. 

Birds  and  quadrupeds,  and  even  fish,  are  the  food 
of  Owls,  according  to  the  size  of  the  species.  Hares, 
partridges,  grouse,  and  even  the  turkey,  are  attacked 
by  the  larger  Horned  Owls  of  Europe  and  America ; 
while  mice,  shrews,  small  birds,  and  crabs  suffice  for 


OWLS.  227 

the  inferior  strength  of  the  smaller  Owls.  Mr.  Yar- 
rell  states  that  the  Short-eared  Owl  is  the  only  bird 
of  prey  in  which  he  ever  found  the  remains  of  a  bat. 

William  Bullock  reports  that  a  large  Snowy  Owl, 
wounded  on  the  Isle  of  Baltoc,  disgorged  a  young 
rabbit;  and  that  one  in  his  possession  had  in  its 
stomach  a  sandpiper  with  its  feathers  entire.  It 
preys  on  lemmings,  hares,  and  birds,  particularly  the 
willow-grouse  and  ptarmigan.  It  is  a  dexterous 
fisher,  grasping  the  fish  with  an  instantaneous  stroke 
of  the  foot  as  it  sails  along  near  the  surface  of  the 
water,  or  sits  on  a  stone  in  a  shallow  stream.  It 
has  been  seen  on  the  wing  pursuing  an  American 
hare,  making  repeated  strokes  at  the  animal  with  its 
foot.  In  winter,  when  this  Owl  is  fat,  the  Indians 
and  white  residents  in  the  Fur  Countries  esteem  it 
to  be  good  eating;  its  flesh  is  delicately  white. 
Small  snakes  are  the  common  prey  of  this  Owl 
during  the  daytime.  And  to  show  on  what  various 
kinds  of  food  Owls  subsist,  Mr.  Darwin  states  that  a 
species  that  was  killed  among  the  islets  of  the  Chonos 
Archipelago  had  its  stomach  full  of  good-sized  crabs. 
Such  are  a  few  of  the  facts  which  attest  the  almost 
omnivorous  appetite  of  the  Owl. 

The  flight  of  the  Snowy  Owl  is  stronger  and 
swifter  than  any  other  bird  of  the  family ;  its  ears 
are  very  large  ;  its  voice  (says  Pennant)  adds  horror 
even  to  the  regions  of  Greenland  by  its  hideous  cries, 
resembling  those  of  a  man  in  deep  distress.  The  eye 
is  very  curious,  being  immovably  fixed  in  its  socket, 
so  that  the  bird,  to  view  different  objects,  must 
p  2 


228  OWLS. 

always  turn  its  head ;  and  so  excellently  is  the  neck 
adapted  to  this  purpose,  that  it  can  with  ease  turn 
the  head  round  in  almost  a  complete  circle,  without 
moving  the  body.  The  Virginian  Eagle-Owl,  amidst 
the  forests  of  Indiana,  utters  a  loud  and  sudden 
Wough  0!  wough  Of  sufficient  to  alarm  a  whole 
garrison ;  another  of  its  nocturnal  cries  resembles 
the  half-suppressed  screams  of  a  person  being  suffo- 
cated or  throttled. 

The  Javanese  Owl  is  found  in  the  closest  forests, 
and  occasionally  near  villages  and  dwellings.  Dr. 
Horsfield  says  : — "  It  is  not,  however,  a  favourite 
with  the  natives ;  various  superstitious  notions  are 
also  in  Java  associated  with  its  visits  ;  and  it  is  con- 
sidered in  many  parts  of  the  island  as  portending 
evil."  One  of  this  species  never  visits  the  villages, 
but  resides  in  the  dense  forests,  which  are  the  usual 
resort  of  the  tiger.  The  natives  even  assert  that  the 
Wowo-wiwi  approaches  the  animal  with  the  same 
familiarity  with  which  the  jallack  approaches  the 
buffalo,  and  that  it  has  no  dread  to  alight  on  the 
tiger's  back.  Dr.  Horsfield  adds,  that  it  has  never 
been  seen  in  confinement. 

The  Boobook  Owl  has  the  native  name  of  Buck- 
buck,  and  it  may  be  heard  in  Australia  every  night 
during  winter,  uttering  a  cry  corresponding  with 
that  word.  The  note  is  somewhat  similar  to  that  of 
the  European  Cuckoo,  and  the  colonists  have  given  it 
that  name.  The  lower  order  of  settlers  in  New 
South  Wales  are  led  away  by  the  idea  that  every- 
thing is  the  reverse  in  that  country  to  what  it  is  in 


FRASER.S    EA(iJ.E-«>WJ,,    FROM    FERNANDO    I'o. 


OWLS.  229 

England;  and  the  Cuckoo,  as  they  call  this  bird, 
singing  by  night,  is  one  of  the  instances  which  they 
point  out. 

Tame  Owls  are  described  as  nearly  as  playful, 
and  quite  as  affectionate,  as  kittens  ;  they  will  perch 
upon  your  wrist,  touch  your  lips  with  their  beak, 
and  hoot  to  order ;  and  they  are  less  inclined  to  leave 
their  friends  than  other  tame  birds.  A  writer  in 
"  Chamber s's  Journal  "  relates,  that  a  friend  lost  his 
favourite  Owl,  which  flew  away,  and  was  absent 
many  days.  In  time,  however,  he  came  back,  and 
resumed  his  habits  and  duties,  which,  for  a  while, 
went  on  uninterruptedly.  At  length,  one  severe 
autumn,  he  disappeared ;  weeks,  months  passed,  and 
he  returned  not.  One  snowy  night,  however,  as  his 
master  sat  by  the  blazing  fire,  some  heavy  thing 
came  bump  against  the  shutters.  "  Whoo,  whoo, 
whoo."  The  window  was  opened,  and  in  flew  the 
Owl,  shaking  the  thick  snow  from  his  wings,  and 
settling  lovingly  on  his  master's  wrist,  the  bird's 
eyes  dilating  with  delight. 

The  Owls  at  Arundel  Castle  have  a  sort  of  historic 
interest;  they  are  kept  within  the  circuit  of  the 
keep-tower,  the  most  ancient  and  picturesque  portion 
of  the  castle.  Among  the  Australian  Owls  here  we 
read  of  one  larger  than  a  turkey,  measuring  four 
feet  across  the  wings  when  expanded.  The  Owl 
named  "  Lord  Thurlow,"  from  his  resemblance  to 
that  Judge,  is  a  striking  specimen. 

The  accompanying  illustration  shows  a  fine  speci- 
men of  Eraser's  Eagle-Owl,  brought  from  Fernando 


230  OWLS. 

Po.  It  is  the  size  of  an  ordinary  fowl ;  colour,  very 
dark  reddish-brown  mottling ;  back  and  wings  pass- 
ing through  all  shades  of  the  same  colour  into  nearly 
white  on  the  under  parts,  where  the  feathers  are 
barred ;  bill,  pale  greenish  ;  eyes,  nearly  black. 

Among  the  Owls  but  recently  described  is  the 
Masked  Owl  of  New  Holland,  named  from  the 
markings  of  the  disk  of  the  face,  somewhat  gro- 
tesque ;  the  colours  are  brown  variegated  with  white. 
A  fine  specimen  of  the  Abyssinian  Owl  is  possessed 
by  Mr.  K.  Good,  of  Yeovil :  the  bird,  although 
quite  young,  is  of  immense  size. 

Lastly,  the  Owl  is  thought  to  be  of  the  same 
sympathy  or  kindred  likings  as  the  Cat :  a  young 
Owl  will  feed  well,  and  thrive  upon  fish.  Cats,  too, 
it  is  well  known,  like  fish.  Both  the  Cat  and  the 
Owl,  too,  feed  upon  mice.  The  sight  of  Owls,  also, 
similar  to  that  of  Cats,  appears  to  serve  them  best 
in  the  dark. 


WEATHEK-WISE  ANIMALS. 


fHATEVER,  may  be  the  worth  of  weather 
prognostications,  it  is  from  the  animal 
kingdom  that  we  obtain  the  majority.  How 
these  creatures  become  so  acutely  sensible  of  the 
approach  of  particular  kinds  of  weather  is  not  at 
present  well  understood.  That  in  many  cases  the 
appearance  of  the  heavens  is  not  the  source  from 
which  their  information  is  derived  is  proved  by  the 
signs  of  uneasiness  frequently  expressed  by  them 
when,  as  yet,  the  most  attentive  observer  can  detect 
no  signs  of  change,  and  even  when  they  are  placed 
in.  such  circumstances  as  preclude  the  possibility  of 
any  instruction  from  this  quarter.  For  instance, 
Dogs,  closely  confined  in  a  room,  often  become  very 
drowsy  and  stupid  before  rain ;  and  a  leech,  confined 
in  a  glass  of  water,  has  been  found,  by  its  rapid 
motions  or  its  quiescence,  to  indicate  the  approach 
of  wet  or  the  return  of  fair  weather.  Probably  the 
altered  condition  of  the  atmosphere  with  regard  to 
its  electricity,  which  generally  accompanies  change 


232  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

of  weather,  may  so  affect  their  constitution  as  to 
excite  in  them  pleasurable  or  uneasy  sensations ; 
though  man  is  far  from  insensible  to  atmospheric 
changes,  as  the  feelings  of  utter  listlessness  which 
many  persons  experience  before  rain,  and  the  aggra- 
vated severity  of  toothache,  headache,  and  rheuma- 
tism abundantly  testify.  The  Cat  licking  itself  is  a 
special  influence  of  the  above  electric  influence, 
which  denotes  the  approach  of  rain. 

Birds,  as  "  denizens  of  the  air,"  are  the  surest 
indicators  of  weather  changes.  Thus,  when  swal- 
lows fly  high,  fine  weather  is  to  be  expected  or 
continued ;  but  when  they  fly  low,  or  close  to  the 
ground,  rain  is  almost  surely  approaching ;  for 
swallows  follow  the  flies  and  gnats,  which  delight  in 
warm  strata  of  air.  Now,  as  warm  air  is  lighter, 
and  usually  moister  than  cold  air,  when  the  warm 
strata  of  air  are  high  there  is  less  chance  of  moisture 
being  thrown  down  from  them  by  their  mixture 
with  cold  air ;  but  when  the  warm  and  moist  air  is 
close  to  the  surface,  it  is  almost  certain  that,  as  the 
cold  air  flows  down  into  it,  a  deposition  of  water 
will  take  place. 

When  Seagulls  assemble  on  the  land,  very  stormy 
and  rainy  weather  is  approaching.  The  cause  of 
this  migration  to  the  land  is  the  security  of  these 
birds  finding  food;  and  they  may  be  observed  at 
this  time  feeding  greedily  on  the  earth-worms  and 
larvae  driven  out  of  the  ground  by  severe  floods ; 
whilst  the  fish  on  which  they  prey  in  fine  weather 
in  the  sea,  leave  the  surface,  and  go  deeper  in 


WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS.  233 

storms.  The  search  after  food  is  the  principal  cause 
why  animals  change  their  places.  The  different 
tribes  of  the  wading  birds  always  migrate  when  rain 
is  about  to  take  place. 

There  is  a  bird  which  takes  its  name  from  its 
apparent  agency  in  tempests.  Such  is  the  Stormy 
Petrel,  which  name  Hawkesworth,  in  his  "Voyages," 
mentions  the  sailors  give  to  the  bird,  but  explains 
no  further.  Navigators  meet  with  the  Little  Petrel, 
or  Storm  Finch,  in  every  part  of  the  ocean,  diving, 
running  on  foot,  or  skimming  over  the  highest 
waves.  It  seems  to  foresee  the  coming  storm  long 
ere  the  seamen  can  discover  any  signs  of  its  ap- 
proach. The  Petrels  make  this  known  by  congre- 
gating together  under  the  wake  of  the  vessel,  as  if 
to  shelter  themselves,  and  they  thus  warn  the 
mariner  of  the  coming  danger.  At  night  they  set 
up  a  piercing  cry.  This  usefulness  of  the  bird  to 
the  sailor  is  the  obvious  cause  of  the  latter  having 
such  an  objection  to  their  being  killed. 

Mr.  Knapp,  the  naturalist,  thus  pictures  gulls, 
describing  the  Petrel's  action  : — "  They  seem  to 
repose  in  a  common  breeze,  but  upon  the  approach 
or  during  the  continuation  of  a  gale,  they  surround 
the  ship,  and  catch  up  the  small  animals  which  the 
agitated  ocean  brings  near  the  surface,  or  any  food 
that  may  be  dropped  from  the  vessel.  Whisking 
like  an  arrow  through  the  deep  valleys  of  the  abyss, 
and  darting  away  over  the  foaming  crest  of  some 
mountain-wave,  they  attend  the  labouring  barque  in 


234  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

all  her  perilous  course.  When  the  storm  subsides 
they  retire  to  rest,  and  are  seen  no  more." 

Our  sailors  have,  from  very  early  times,  called 
these  birds  "  Mother  Carey's  Chickens,"  originally 
bestowed  on  them,  Mr.  Yarrell  tells  us,  by  Captain 
Cartaret's  sailors,  probably  from  some  celebrated 
ideal  hag  of  the  above  name.  Mr.  Yarrell  adds  : — 
"  As  these  birds  are  supposed  to  be  seen  only  before 
stormy  weather,  they  are  not  welcome  visitors,"  a 
view  at  variance  with  that  already  suggested. 

The  Editor  of  "  Notes  and  Queries  "  considers 
the  Petrels  to  have  been  called  chickens  from  their 
diminutive  size.  The  largest  sort,  "  the  Giant 
Petrel,"  is  "Mother  Carey's  Goose;99  its  length 
is  forty  inches,  and  it  expands  seven  feet.  The 
common  kind  are  about  the  size  of  a  swallow,  and 
weigh  something  over  an  ounce  ;  length,  six  inches ; 
expansion,  thirteen  inches ;  these  are  Mother  Ca- 
rey's chickens  (Latham).  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  our  language  does  not  restrict  the  term 
chickens  to  young  birds  of  the  gallinaceous  class. 

The  Missel-bird  is  another  bird  of  this  kind  :  in 
Hampshire  and  Sussex  it  is  called  the  Storm  Cock, 
because  it  sings  early  in  the  spring,  in  blowing, 
showery  weather. 

Petrels,  by  the  way,  are  used  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Faroe  Islands  as  lamps  :  they  pass  a  wick 
through  their  bodies  which,  when  lighted,  burns  a 
long  time  from  the  quantity  of  fat  they  contain. 

The  Fulmar  Petrel,  in  Boothia,  follows  the  whale- 
ships,  availing  itself  of  the  labours  of  the  fishermen 


WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS.  235 

by  feeding  on  the  carcases  of  the  whales  when  stripped 
of  their  blubber.  In  return  the  bird  is  exceedingly 
useful  to  the  whalers  by  guiding  them  to  the  places 
where  whales  are  most  numerous,  and  crowding  to 
the  spots  where  they  first  appear  on  the  surface  of 
the  water. 

Wild  Geese  and  Ducks  are  unquestionably 
weather-wise,  for  their  early  arrival  from  the 
north  in  the  winter  portends  that  a  severe  season 
is  approaching;  because  their  early  appearance  is 
most  likely  caused  by  severe  frost  having  already 
set  in  at  their  usual  summer  residence.  The  Rev. 
F.  0.  Morris,  the  well-known  writer  on  natural 
history,  records  from  JSTunburnholme,  Yorkshire, 
December  5,  1864  : — "  This  season,  for  the  first 
time  I  have  lived  here,  I  have  missed  seeing  the 
flocks  of  Wild  Geese  which  in  the  autumnal  months 
have  heretofore  wended  their  way  overhead,  year 
after  year,  as  regularly  as  the  dusk  of  the  evening 
came  on.  Almost  to  the  minute,  and  almost  in  the 
same  exact  course,  they  have  flown  over  aloft  from 
the  feeding-places  on  the  Wolds  to  their  resting- 
places  for  the  night ;  some,  perhaps,  to  extensive 
commons,  while  others  have  turned  off  to  the  mud- 
banks  of  the  Humber,  whence  they  have  returned 
with  equal  regularity  in  the  morning. 

"  But  this  year  I  have  seen  not  only  not  a  single 
flock,  but  not  even  a  single  bird.  One  evening  one 
of  my  daughters  did  indeed  see  a  small  flock  of  six, 
but  even  that  small  number  only  once.  Whether  it 
portends  a  very  hard  winter,  or  what  the  cause  of 


236  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

it  may  be,  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  to  know  or  even 
to  guess.  I  quite  miss  this  year  the  well-known 
cackle  of  the  old  gander  as  he  has  led  the  van  of 
the  flock  that  has  followed  him;  now  in  a  wide, 
now  in  a  narrow,  now  in  a  short,  now  in  a  long 
wedge,  over  head,  diverging  just  from  the  father 
of  the  family,  or  separating  from  time  to  time 
further  back  in  the  line. 

"  I  may  add,  as  a  possible  prognostication  of  future 
weather,  that  fieldfares  have,  I  think,  been  unusually 
numerous  this  year,  as  last  year  they  were  the  con- 
trary. I  have  also  remarked  that  swallows  took 
their  departure  this  year  more  than  ordinarily  in 
a  body,  very  few  stragglers  being  subsequently 
seen." 

It  will  be  sufficient  to  state  that  the  mean  tem- 
perature of  January  and  February  was  below  that 
of  the  same  month  in  the  preceding  year,  and  that 
of  March  had  not  been  so  low  for  twenty  years. 

The  opinion  that  sea-birds  come  to  land  in  order 
to  avoid  an  approaching  storm  is  stated  to  be  erro- 
neous ;  and  the  cause  assigned  is,  that  as  the  fish 
upon  which  the  birds  prey  go  deep  into  the  water 
during  storms,  the  birds  come  to  land  merely  on 
account  of  the  greater  certainty  of  finding  food 
there  than  out  at  sea. 

We  add  a  few  notes  on  Bird  naturalists.  The 
Redbreast  has  been  called  the  Naturalist's  Barometer. 
When  on  a  summer  evening,  though  it  be  unsettled 
and  rainy,  he  sings  cheerfully  and  sweetly  on  a  lofty 
twig  or  housetop,  it  is  an  unerring  promise  of  sue- 


WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS.  237 

ceeding  fine  days.  Sometimes,  though  the  atmo- 
sphere be  dry  and  warm,  he  may  be  seen  melancholy 
chirping  and  brooding  in  a  bush  or  low  in  a  hedge  ; 
this  promises  the  reverse.  In  the  luxuriant  forests 
of  Brazil  the  Toucan  may  be  heard  rattling  with 
his  large  hollow  beak,  as  he  sits  on  the  outermost 
branches,  calling  in  plaintive  notes  for  rain. 

When  Mr.  Loudon  was  at  Schwetzingen,  Rhenish 
Bavaria,  in  1829,  he  witnessed  in  the  post-house 
there  for  the  first  time  what  he  afterwards  fre- 
quently saw — an  amusing  application  of  zoological 
knowledge  for  the  purpose  of  prognosticating  the 
weather.  Two  tree-frogs  were  kept  in  a  crystal 
jar  about  eighteen  inches  high  and  six  inches  in 
diameter,  with  a  depth  of  three  or  four  inches  of 
water  at  the  bottom,  and  a  small  ladder  reaching 
to  the  top  of  the  jar.  On  the  approach  of  dry 
weather  the  frogs  mounted  the  ladder,  but  when 
moisture  was  expected  they  descended  into  the 
water.  These  animals  are  of  a  bright  green,  and 
in  their  wild  state  climb  the  trees  in  search  of 
insects,  and  make  a  peculiar  singing  noise  before 
rain.  In  the  jar  they  got  no  other  food  than  now 
and  then  a  fly;  one  of  which,  Mr.  Loudon  was 
assured,  would  serve  a  frog  for  a  week,  though  it 
would  eat  from  six  to  twelve  flies  in  a  day  if  it 
could  get  them.  In  catching  the  flies  put  alive  into 
the  jar  the  frogs  displayed  great  adroitness. 

Snails  are  extraordinary  indicators  of  changes  in 
the  weather.  Several  years  ago,  Mr.  Thomas,  of 
Cincinnati,  known  as  an  accredited  observer  of 


238  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

natural  phenomena,  published  some  interesting 
accounts  of  Weather-wise  Snails.  They  do  not 
drink  (he  observes),  but  imbibe  moisture  in  their 
bodies  during  rain,  and  exude  it  at  regular  periods 
afterwards.  Then  a  certain  snail  first  exudes  the 
pure  liquid;  when  this  is  exhausted,  a  light  red 
succeeds,  then  a  deep  red,  next  yellow,  and  lastly 
a  dark  brown.  The  snail  is  very  careful  not  to 
exude  more  of  its  moisture  than  is  necessary.  It 
is  never  seen  abroad  except  before  rain,  when  we 
find  it  ascending  the  bark  of  trees  and  getting  on 
the  leaves.  The  tree- snail  is  also  seen  ascending 
the  stems  of  plants  two  days  before  rain :  if  it  be  a 
long  and  hard  rain  they  get  on  the  sheltered  side  of 
the  leaf,  but  if  a  short  rain  the  outside  of  the  leaf. 
Another  snail  has  the  same  habits,  but  differs  only 
in  colour  :  before  rain  it  is  yellow,  and  after  it  blue. 
Others  show  signs  of  rain,  not  only  by  means  of 
exuding  fluids,  but  by  means  of  pores  and  protube- 
rances ;  and  the  bodies  of  some  snails  have  large 
tubercles  rising  from  them  before  rain.  These 
tubercles  commence  showing  themselves  ten  days 
previous  to  the  fall  of  rain  they  indicate ;  at  the 
end  of  each  of  these  tubercles  is  a  pore  ;  and  at  the 
time  of  the  fall  of  rain  these  tubercles,  with  their 
pores  opened,  are  stretched  to  their  utmost  to  receive 
the  water.  In  another  kind  of  snail,  a  few  days 
before  rain  appears  a  large  and  deep  indentation, 
beginning  at  the  head  between  the  horns,  and 
ending  with  the  jointure  at  the  shells.  Other 
snails,  a  few  days  before  the  rain,  crawl  to  the 


WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS.  239 

most  exposed  hill-side,  where,  if  they  arrive  before 
the  rain  descends,  they  seek  some  crevice  in  the 
rocks,  and  then  close  the  aperture  of  the  shell 
with  glutinous  substance ;  this,  when  the  rain 
approaches,  they  dissolve,  and  are  then  seen  crawl- 
ing about. 

Our  Cincinnati  observer  mentions  three  kinds  of 
snails  which  move  along  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  in 
forty-four  hours  ;  they  inhabit  the  most  dense 
forests,  and  it  is  regarded  as  a  sure  indication  of 
rain  to  observe  them  moving  towards  an  exposed 
situation.  Others  indicate  the  weather  not  only  by 
exuding  fluids,  but  by  the  colour  of  the  animal. 
After  rain  the  snail  has  a  very  dark  appearance, 
but  it  grows  of  a  bright  colour  as  the  water  is 
expended ;  whilst  just  before  rain  it  is  of  yellowish 
white  colour,  also  just  before  rain  streaks  appear 
from  the  point  of  the  head  to  the  jointure  of  the 
shell.  These  snails  move  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  in 
fourteen  days  and  sixteen  hours.  If  they  are 
observed  ascending  a  cliff  it  is  a  sure  indication  of 
rain  :  they  live  in  the  cavities  of  the  sides  of  cliffs. 
There  is  also  a  snail  which  is  brown,  tinged  with 
blue  on  the  edges  before  rain,  but  black  after  rain  : 
a  few  days  before  appears  an  indentation,  which 
grows  deeper  as  the  rain  approaches. 

The  leaves  of  trees  are  even  good  barometers  : 
most  of  them  for  a  short,  light  rain,  will  turn  up 
so  as  to  receive  their  fill  of  water ;  but  for  a  long 
rain  they  are  doubled,  so  as  to  conduct  the  water 
away.  The  Frog  and  Toad  are  sure  indicators  of 


240  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

rain  ;  for,  as  they  do  not  drink  water  but  absorb  it 
into  their  bodies,  they  are  sure  to  be  found  out  at 
the  time  they  expect  rain.  The  Locust  and  Grass- 
hopper are  also  good  indicators  of  a  storm. ;  a  few 
hours  before  rain  they  are  to  be  found  under  the 
leaves  of  trees  and  in  the  hollow  trunks. 

The  Mole  has  long  been  recorded  as  a  prognosti- 
cator  of  change  of  weather,  before  which  it  becomes 
very  active.  The  temperature  or  dryness  of  the 
air  governs  its  motions  as  to  the  depth  at  which 
it  lives  or  works.  This  is  partly  from  its  inability 
to  bear  cold  or  thirst,  but  chiefly  from  its  being 
necessitated  to  follow  its  natural  food,  the  earth- 
worm, which  always  descends  as  the  cold  or  drought 
increases.  In  frosty  weather  both  worms  and  moles 
are  deeper  in  the  ground  than  at  other  times ;  and 
both  seem  to  be  sensible  of  an  approaching  change 
to  warmer  weather  before  there  are  any  perceptible 
signs  of  it  in  the  atmosphere.  When  it  is  observed, 
therefore,  that  Moles  are  casting  hills  through  open- 
ings in  the  frozen  turf  or  through  a  thin  covering 
of  snow,  a  change  to  open  weather  may  be  shortly 
expected.  The  cause  of  this  appears  to  be — the 
natural  heat  of  the  earth  being  for  a  time  pent  in 
by  the  frozen  surface  accumulates  below  it ;  first 
incites  to  action  the  animals,  thaws  the  frozen 
surface,  and  at  length  escapes  into  the  air,  which 
is  warm,  and  softens ;  and  if  not  counterbalanced 
by  a  greater  degree  of  cold  in  the  atmosphere  brings 
about  a  change,  such  as  from  frosty  to  mild  weather. 
The  Mole  is  most  active  and  casts  up  most  earth 


WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS.  241 

immediately  before  rain,  and  in  the  winter  before  a 
thaw,  because  at  those  times  the  worms  and  insects 
begin  to  be  in  motion,  and  approach  the  surface. 

Forster,  the  indefatigable  meteorologist,  has  as- 
sembled some  curious  observations  on  certain 
animals,  who,  by  some  peculiar  sensibility  to  elec- 
trical- or  other  atmospheric  influence,  often  indicate 
changes  of  the  weather  by  their  peculiar  motions 
and  habits.  Thus  : — 

Ants. — An  universal  bustle  and  activity  observed 
in  ant-hills  may  be  generally  regarded  as  a  sign  of 
rain  :  the  Ants  frequently  appear  all  in  motion 
together,  and  carry  their  eggs  about  from  place 
to  place.  This  is  remarked  by  Yirgil,  Pliny,  and 
others. 

Asses. — When  donkeys  bray  more  than  ordinarily, 
especially  should  they  shake  their  ears,  as  if  uneasy, 
it  is  said  to  predict  rain,  and  particularly  showers. 
Forster  noticed  that  in  showery  weather  a  donkey 
brayed  before  every  shower,  and  generally  some 
minutes  before  the  rain  fell,  as  if  some  electrical 
influence,  produced  by  the  concentrating  power  of 
the  approaching  rain-cloud,  caused  a  tickling  in  the 
wind-pipe  of  the  animal  just  before  the  shower  came 
on.  Whatever  this  electric  state  of  the  air  preceding 
a  shower  may  be,  it  seems  to  be  the  same  that  causes 
in  other  animals  some  peculiar  sensations,  which 
makes  the  peacock  squall,  the  pintado  call  "come 
back,"  &c.  An  expressive  adage  says  : — 

"  When  that  the  ass  begins  to  bray, 
Be  sure  we  shall  have  rain  that  day." 
Q 


242  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

Haymakers  may  derive  useful  admonitions  from  the 
braying  of  the  ass  :  thus  the  proverb  : — 

"  Be  sure  to  cock  your  hay  and  corn 
When  the  old  donkey  blows  his  horn." 

Bats  flitting  about  late  in  the  evening  in  spring 
and  autumn  foretel  a  fine  day  on  the  morrow;  as 
do  Dorbeetles  and  some  other  insects.  On  the  con- 
trary, when  Bats  return  soon  to  their  hiding-places, 
and  send  forth  loud  cries,  bad  weather  may  be  ex- 
pected. 

Beetles  flying  about  late  in  the  evening  often 
foretel  a  fine  day  on  the  morrow. 

Butterflies,  when  they  appear  early,  are  sometimes 
forerunners  of  fine  weather.  Moths  and  Sphinxes 
also  foretel  fine  weather  when  they  are  common  in 
the  evening. 

Cats,  when  they  "wash  their  faces,"  or  when 
they  seem  sleepy  and  dull,  foretel  rain. 

Chickens,  when  they  pick  up  small  stones  and 
pebbles,  and  are  more  noisy  than  usual,  afford  a 
sign  of  rain ;  as  do  fowls  rubbing  in  the  dust,  and 
clapping  their  wings;  but  this  applies  to  several 
kinds  of  fowls,  as  well  as  to  the  gallinaceous  kinds. 
Cocks,  when  they  crow  at  unwonted  hours,  often 
foretel  rain;  when  they  crow  all  day,  in  summer 
particularly,  a  change  to  rain  frequently  follows. 

Cranes  were  said  of  old  to  foretel  rain  when  they 
retreated  to  the  valleys,  and  returned  from  their 
aerial  flight.  The  high  flight  of  cranes  in  silence 
indicates  fine  weather. 


WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS.  243 

Dolphins  as  well  as  Porpoises,  when  they  come 
about  a  ship,  and  sport  and  gambol  on  the  surface 
of  the  water,  betoken  a  storm. 

Dogs,  before  rain,  grow  sleepy  and  dull,  lie 
drowsily  before  the  fire,  and  are  not  easily  aroused. 
They  also  often  eat  grass,  which  indicates  that  their 
stomachs,  like  ours,  are  apt  to  be  disturbed  before 
change  of  weather.  It  is  also  said  to  be  a  sign  of 
change  of  weather  when  Dogs  howl  and  bark  much 
in  the  night.  Dogs  also  dig  in  the  earth  with  their 
feet  before  rain,  and  often  make  deep  holes  in  the 
ground. 

Ducks. — The  loud  and  clamorous  quacking  of 
Ducks,  Geese,  and  other  water-fowl,  is  a  sign  of 
rain ;  as  also  when  they  wash  themselves,  and  nutter 
about  in  the  water  more  than  usual.  Virgil  has 
well  described  all  these  habits  of  aquatic  birds. 

Fieldfares,  when  they  arrive  early,  and  in  great 
numbers,  in  autumn,  foreshow  a  hard  winter,  which 
has  probably  set  in  in  the  regions  from  which  they 
have  come. 

Fishes,  when  they  bite  more  readily,  and  gambol 
near  the  surface  of  streams  or  pools,  foreshow  rain. 

Flies,  and  various  sorts  of  insects,  become  more 
troublesome,  and  sting  and  bite  more  than  usual, 
before,  as  well  as  in  the  intervals  of  rainy  weather, 
particularly  in  autumn. 

Frogs,  by  their  clamorous  croaking,  indicate  rainy 
weather,  as  does  likewise  their  coming  about  in  great 
numbers  in  the  evening ;  but  this  last  sign  applies 
more  obviously  to  toads. 

Q  2 


244  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

Geese  washing,  or  taking  wing  with  a  clamorous 
noise,  and  flying  to  the  water,  portend  rain. 

Gnats  afford  several  indications.  When  they  fly 
in  a  vortex  in  the  beams  of  the  setting  sun  they 
forebode  fair  weather ;  when  they  frisk  about  more 
widely  in  the  open  air  at  eventide  they  foreshow 
heat ;  and  when  they  assemble  under  trees,  and  bite 
more  than  usual,  they  indicate  rain. 

Hogs,  when  they  shake  the  stalks  of  corn,  and 
spoil  them,  often  indicate  rain.  When  they  run 
squeaking  about,  and  jerk  up  their  heads,  windy 
weather  is  about  to  commence  ;  hence  the  Wiltshire 
proverb,  that  "  Pigs  can  see  the  wind." 

Horses  foretel  the  coming  of  rain  by  starting  more 
than  ordinarily,  and  by  restlessness  on  the  road. 

Jackdaws  are  unusually  clamorous  before  rain,  as 
are  also  Starlings.  Sometimes  before  change  of 
weather  the  daws  make  a  great  noise  in  the  chamber 
wherein  they  build. 

Kine  (cattle)  are  said  to  foreshow  rain  when  they 
lick  their  fore-feet,  or  lie  on  their  right  side.  Some 
say  oxen  licking  themselves  against  the  hair  is  a 
sign  of  wet. 

Kites,  when  they  soar  very  high  in  the  air,  denote 
fair  weather,  as  do  also  Larks. 

Magpies,  in  windy  weather,  often  fly  in  small 
flocks  of  three  or  four  together,  uttering  a  strong 
harsh  cry. 

Mice  when  they  squeak  much,  and  gambol  in 
the  house,  foretel  a  change  of  weather,  and  often 
rain. 


WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS.  245 

Oivk. — When  an  owl  hoots  or  screeches,  sitting 
on  the  top  of  a  house,  or  by  the  side  of  a  window,  it 
is  said  to  foretel  death.  "The  fact,"  says  Forster, 
"  seems  to  be  this  :  the  Owl,  as  Yirgil  justly  ob- 
serves, is  more  noisy  at  the  change  of  weather,  and 
as  it  often  happens  that  patients  with  lingering 
diseases  die  at  the  change  of  weather,  so  the  Owl 
seems,  by  a  mistaken  association  of  ideas,  to  forebode 
the  calamity. 

Peacocks  squalling  by  night  often  foretel  a  rainy 
day.  Forster  adds,  "  This  prognostic  does  not  often 
fail ;  and  the  indication  is  made  more  certain  by  the 
crowing  of  Cocks  all  day,  the  braying  of  the  Donkey, 
the  low  flight  of  Swallows,  the  aching  of  rheumatic 
persons,  and  by  the  frequent  appearance  of  spiders 
on  the  walls  of  the  house." 

Pigeons. — It  is  a  sign  of  rain  when  Pigeons 
return  slowly  to  the  dove-houses  before  the  usual 
time  of  day. 

Ravens,  when  observed  early  in  the  morning, 
at  a  great  height  in  the  air,  soaring  round  and 
round,  and  uttering  a  hoarse,  croaking  sound,  indi- 
cate that  the  day  will  be  fine.  On  the  contrary, 
this  bird  affords  us  a  sign  of  coming  rain  by  another 
sort  of  cry ;  the  difference  between  these  two  voices 
being  more  easily  learned  from  nature  than  described. 
The  Raven  frequenting  the  shore  and  dipping  him- 
self in  the  water  is  also  a  sign  of  rain. 

Redbreasts,  when  they,  with  more  than  usual 
familiarity,  lodge  on  our  window-frames,  and  peck 
against  the  glass  with  their  bills,  indicate  severe 


246  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

weather,  of  which  they  have  a  presentiment,  which 
brings  them  nearer  to  the  habitations  of  man. 

Rooks  gathering  together,  and  returning  home 
from  their  pastures  early,  and  at  unwonted  hours, 
forebode  rain.  When  Rooks  whirl  round  in  the 
air  rapidly,  and  come  down  in  small  flocks,  making 
a  roaring  noise  with  their  wings,  rough  weather 
invariably  follows.  On  the  contrary,  when  Rooks 
are  very  noisy  about  their  trees,  and  fly  about  as  if 
rejoicing,  Yirgil  assures  us  they  foresee  a  return  of 
fine  weather,  and  an  end  of  the  showers. 

Spiders,  when  seen  crawling  on  the  walls  more 
than  usual,  indicate  rain.  "This  prognostic,"  says 
Forster,  "  seldom  fails,  I  have  noticed  it  for  many 
years,  particularly  in  winter,  but  more  or  less  at  all 
times  of  the  year.  In  summer  the  quantity  of  webs 
of  the  garden  spiders  denote  fair  weather." 

Swallows,  in  fine  and  settled  weather,  fly  higher 
in  the  air  than  they  do  just  before  or  during  a 
showery  or  rainy  time.  Then,  also,  Swallows  flying 
low,  and  skimming  over  the  surface  of  a  meadow 
where  there  is  tolerably  long  grass,  frequently  stop, 
and  hang  about  the  blades,  as  if  they  were  gathering 
insects  lodged  there. 

Swans,  when  they  fly  against  the  wind,  portend 
rain,  a  sign  frequently  fulfilled. 

Toads,  when  they  come  from  their  holes  in  an 
unusual  number  in  the  evening,  although  the  ground 
be  still  dry,  foreshow  the  coming  rain,  which  will 
generally  fall  more  or  less  during  the  night. 

Urchins  of  the   Sea,   a   sort   of  fish,   when  they 


WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS.  247 

thrust  themselves  into  the  mud,  and  try  to  cover 
their  bodies  with  sand,  foreshow  a  storm. 

Vultures,  when  they  scent  carrion  at  a  great 
distance,  indicate  that  state  of  the  atmosphere  which 
is  favourable  to  the  perception  of  smells,  and  this 
often  forebodes  rain. 

Willow  Wrens  are  frequently  seen,  in  mild  and 
still  rainy  weather,  flitting  about  the  willows,  pines, 
and  other  trees,  in  quest  of  insects. 

Woodcocks  appear  in  autumn  earlier,  and  in  greater 
numbers,  previous  to  severe  winters;  as  do  Snipes 
and  other  winter  birds. 

Worms  come  forth  more  abundantly  before  rain, 
as  do  snails,  slugs,  and  almost  all  limaceous  animals. 

Some  birds  build  their  nests  weather-proof,  as 
ascertained  by  careful  observation  of  Mr.  M.  W. 
B.  Thomas,  of  Cincinnatti,  Ohio.  Thus,  when  a 
pair  of  migratory  birds  have  arrived  in  the  spring, 
they  prepare  to  build  their  nest,  making  a  careful 
reconnaissance  of  the  place,  and  observing  the 
character  of  the  season.  If  it  be  a  windy  one, 
they  thatch  the  straw  and  leaves  on  the  inside  of 
the  nest,  between  the  twigs  and  the  lining  ;  if  it  be 
very  windy,  they  get  pliant  twigs,  and  bind  the 
nest  firmly  to  the  limb  of  the  tree,  securing  all  the 
small  twigs  with  their  saliva.  If  they  fear  the 
approach  of  a  rainy  season,  they  build  their  nests 
so  as  to  be  sheltered  from  the  weather ;  but  if  a 
pleasant  one,  they  build  in  a  fair  open  place,  without 
taking  any  of  these  extra  precautions. 

Of  all  writers,  Dr.  Darwin  has  given  us  the  most 


248  WEATHER-WISE    ANIMALS. 

correct  account  of  the  "  Signs  of  Rain,"  in  a  poetical 
description  of  the  approach  of  foul  weather,  as 
follows.  This  passage  has  been  often  quoted,  but, 
perhaps,  never  exceeded  in  the  accuracy  of  its  phe- 
nomenal observation  : — 

"  The  hollow  winds  begin  to  blow  ; 
The  clouds  look  black,  the  glass  is  low  ; 
The  soot  falls  down,  the  spaniels  sleep  ; 
And  spiders  from  their  cobwebs  peep. 
Last  night  the  sun  went  pale  to  bed  ; 
The  moon  in  haloes  hid  her  head  ; 
The  boding  shepherd  heaves  a  sigh, 
For,  see,  a  rainbow  spans  the  sky. 
The  walls  are  damp,  the  ditches  smell, 
Clos'd  is  the  light  red  pimpernel. 
Hark !  how  the  chairs  and  tables  crack, 
Old  Betty's  joints  are  on  the  rack  ; 
Her  corns  with  shooting  pains  torment  her, 
And  to  her  bed  untimely  send  her. 
Loud  quack  the  ducks,  the  sea-fowls  cry, 
The  distant  hills  are  looking  nigh. 
How  restless  are  the  snorting  swine  ! 
The  busy  flies  disturb  the  kine. 
Low  o'er  the  grass  the  swallow  wings, 
The  cricket,  too,  how  sharp  he  sings  ! 
Puss  on  the  hearth,  with  velvet  paws, 
Sits  wiping  o'er  her  whisker'd  jaws. 
The  smoke  from  chimneys  right  ascends  ; 
Then  spreading  back,  to  earth  it  bends. 
The  wind  unsteady  veers  around, 
Or  settling  in  the  South  is  found. 
Through  the  clear  stream  the  fishes  rise, 
And  nimbly  catch  th'  incautious  flies. 
The  glowworms  num'rous,  clear,  and  bright, 
Ilium' d  the  dewy  hill  last  night. 


WEATHER-WISE   ANIMALS.  249 

At  dusk,  the  squalid  toad  was  seen, 

Like  quadruped,  stalk  o'er  the  green. 

The  whirling  wind  the  dust  obeys, 

And  in  the  rapid  eddy  plays. 

The  frog  has  chang'd  his  yellow  vest, 

And  in  a  russet  coat  is  drest. 

The  sky  is  green,  the  air  is  still, 

The  mellow  blackbird's  voice  is  shrill. 

The  dog,  so  altered  is  his  taste, 

Quits  mutton-bones  on  grass  to  feast. 

Behold  the  rooks,  how  odd  their  flight, 

They  imitate  the  gliding  kite, 

And  seem  precipitate  to  fall, 

As  if  they  felt  the  piercing  ball. 

The  tender  colts  on  banks  do  lie, 

Nor  heed  the  traveller  passing  by. 

In  fiery  red  the  sun  doth  rise, 

Then  wades  through  clouds  to  mount  the  skies. 

'  'Twill  surely  rain,  we  see  't  with  sorrow, 

No  working  in  the  fields  to-morrow.'  " 

The  Shepherd  of  Banbury  says  : — "  The  surest 
and  most  certain  sign  of  rain  is  taken  from  Bees, 
which  are  more  incommoded  by  rain  than  almost  any 
other  creatures;  and,  therefore,  as  soon  as  the  air 
begins  to  grow  heavy,  and  the  vapours  to  condense, 
they  will  not  fly  from  their  hives,  but  either  remain 
in  them  all  day,  or  else  fly  but  to  a  small  distance." 
Yet  Bees  are  not  always  right  in  their  prognostics, 
for  Eeaumur  witnessed  a  swarm  which,  after  leaving 
the  hive  at  half-past  one  o'clock,  were  overtaken  by 
a  heavy  shower  at  three. 


FISH-TALK. 


| AN  favours  wonders  ;"  and  this  delight  is 
almost  endlessly  exemplified  in  the  stories 
of  strange  Fishes — of  preternatural  size 
and  odd  forms,  which  are  to  be  found  in  their  early 
history.  In  our  present  Talk  we  do  not  aim  at  re- 
assembling these  olden  tales,  but  propose  rather  to 
glance  at  recent  accessions  to  our  acquaintance  with 
the  study  of  Fish-life,  and  a  few  modern  instances  of 
the  class  of  wonders. 

Fishes,  like  all  other  animals,  have  a  very  delicate 
sense  of  the  equilibrial  position  of  their  bodies. 
They  endeavour  to  counteract  all  change  in  their 
position  by  means  of  movements  partly  voluntary 
and  partly  instinctive.  These  latter  appear  in  a 
very  remarkable  manner  in  the  eye ;  and  they  are 
so  constant  and  evident  in  fishes  while  alive,  that 
their  absence  is  sufficient  to  indicate  the  death  of  the 
animal.  The  equilibrium  of  the  fish,  its  horizontal 
position,  with  the  back  upwards,  depends  solely 
on  the  action  of  the  fins,  and  principally  that  of  the 


FISH-TALK.  251 

vertical  fins.  The  swimming-bladder  may  enable  a 
fish  to  increase  or  dimmish  its  specific  gravity.  By 
compressing  the  air  contained  in  it,  the  fish  descends 
in  the  water  ;  it  rises  by  releasing  the  muscles  which 
produced  the  compression.  By  compressing  more 
or  less  the  posterior  or  anterior  portion  of  the 
bladder,  the  animal,  at  pleasure,  can  make  the  an- 
terior or  posterior  half  of  its  body  lighter ;  it  can 
also  assume  an  oblique  position,  which  permits  an 
ascending  or  descending  movement  in  the  water. 

There  is  a  small  fish  found  in  the  rivers  of  the 
Burmese  Empire,  which,  on  being  taken  out  of  the 
water,  has  the  power  of  blowing  itself  up  to  the 
shape  of  a  small  round  ball,  but  its  original  shape  is 
resumed  as  soon  as  it  is  returned  to  the  river. 

Mr.  St.  John,  in  his  "  Tour  in  Eastern  Lanark- 
shire," gives  some  curious  instances  of  fish  chang- 
ing colour,  which  takes  place  with  surprising  rapidity. 
Put  a  living  black  burn  Trout  into  a  white  basin  of 
water,  and  it  becomes,  within  half  an  hour,  of  a  light 
colour.  Keep  the  fish  living  in  a  white  jar  for  some 
days,  and  it  becomes  absolutely  white ;  but  put  it 
into  a  dark-coloured  or  black  vessel,  and  although  on 
first  being  placed  there  the  white-coloured  fish  shows 
most  conspicuously  on  the  black  ground,  in  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  it  becomes  as  dark-coloured  as  the  bottom 
of  the  jar,  and  consequently  difficult  to  be  seen.  No 
doubt  this  facility  of  adapting  its  colour  to  the  bottom 
of  the  water  in  which  it  lives,  is  of  the  greatest  ser- 
vice to  the  fish  in  protecting  it  from  its  numerous 
enemies.  All  anglers  must  have  observed,  that  in 


252  FISH-TALK. 

every  stream  the  Trout  are  very  much  of  the  same 
colour  as  the  gravel  or  sand  on  which  they  live : 
whether  this  change  of  colour  is  a  voluntary  or  invo- 
luntary act  on  the  part  of  the  fish,  the  scientific  must 
determine. 

Anglers  of  our  time  have  proved  that  Tench 
croak  like  frogs ;  Herrings  cry  like  mice ;  Gurnards 
grunt  like  hogs ;  and  some  say  the  Gurnard  makes  a 
noise  like  a  cuckoo,  from  which  he  takes  one  of  his 
country  names.  The  Maigre,  a  large  sea-fish,  when 
swimming  in  shoals,  utters  a  grunting  or  piercing 
noise,  that  may  be  heard  from  a  depth  of  twenty 
fathoms. 

M.  Dufosse  asserts  that  facts  prove  that  nature 
has  not  refused  to  all  fishes  the  power  of  expressing 
their  instinctive  sensations  by  sounds,  but  has  not 
conferred  on  them  the  unity  of  mechanism  in  the 
formation  of  sonorous  vibrations  as  in  other  classes 
of  vertebrated  animals.  Some  fishes,  he  says,  are 
able  to  emit  musical  tones,  engendered  by  a  mechan- 
ism in  which  the  muscular  vibration  is  the  principal 
motive  power ;  others  possess  the  faculty  of  making 
blowing  sounds,  like  those  of  certain  reptiles ;  and 
others  can  produce  the  creaking  noise  resembling 
that  of  many  insects.  These  phenomena  M.  Dufosse 
has  named  "  Fish-noise." 

The  River  Plate  swarms  with  fish,  and  is  the 
habitat  of  one  possessed  of  a  very  sonorous  voice, 
like  that  found  in  the  River  Borneo — the  account 
of  which  is  quoted  by  Dr.  Buist  from  the  Journal 
of  the  Samarang ;  and  there  is  similar  testimony  of 


FISH-TALK.  253 

a  loud  piscatory  chorus  being  heard  on  board  H.M.S. 
Eagle,  anchored,  in  1845-6,  about  three  miles  from 
Monte  Yideo,  during  the  night. 

That  fishes  hear  has  been  doubted,  although  John 
Hunter  was  of  this  opinion,  and  has  been  followed 
by  many  observers.  When  standing  beside  a  person 
angling,  how  often  is  the  request  made  not  to  make 
a  noise,  as  that  would  alarm  the  fish.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Chinese  drive  the  fish  up  to  that  part  of 
the  river  where  their  nets  are  ready  to  capture  them 
by  loud  yells  and  shouts,  and  the  sound  of  gongs ; 
but  old  ^Esop  writes  of  a  fisherman  who  caught  no 
fish  because  he  alarmed  them  by  playing  on  his 
flute  while  fishing.  In  Germany  the  Shad  is  taken 
by  means  of  nets,  to  which  bows  of  wood,  hung 
with  a  number  of  little  bells,  are  attached  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  chime  in  harmony  when  the  nets  are 
moved.  The  Shad,  when  once  attracted  by  the 
sound,  will  not  attempt  to  escape  while  the  bells 
continue  to  ring.  -ZElian  says  the  Shad  is  allured  by 
castanets.  Macdiarmid,  who  declares  that  fishes 
hear  as  well  as  see,  relates  that  an  old  Codfish,  the 
patriarch  of  the  celebrated  fish-pond  at  Logan, 
"  answered  to  his  name ;  and  not  only  drew  near, 
but  turned  up  his  snout  most  beseechingly  when  he 
heard  the  monosyllable  '  Tom ; '  and  that  he  evi- 
dently could  distinguish  the  voice  of  the  fisherman 
who  superintended  the  pond,  and  fed  the  fish,  from 
that  of  any  other  fisherman."  In  the  "Kaleidos- 
cope "  mention  is  made  of  three  Trout  in  a  pond  near 
the  powder-mills  at  Faversham,  who  were  so  tame 


254  FISH-TALK. 

as  to  come  at  the  call  of  the  person  accustomed  to 
feed  them.  Izaak  Walton  tells  of  a  Carp  coming  to 
a  certain  part  of  a  pond  to  be  fed  "  at  the  ringing  of 
a  bell,  or  the  beating  of  a  drum ; "  and  Sir  John 
Hawkins  was  assured  by  a  clergyman,  a  friend  of 
his,  that  at  the  Abbey  of  St.  Bernard,  near  Ant- 
werp, he  saw  a  Carp  come  to  the  edge  of  the  water 
to  be  fed,  at  the  whistle  of  the  person  who  fed  it. 
The  Carp  at  Fontainebleau,  inhabiting  the  lake 
adjoining  the  Imperial  Palace,  are  of  great  size,  and 
manifest  a  curious  instinct.  A  Correspondent  of  the 
"  Athena3um  "  remarks  : — 

"Enjoying  entire  immunity  from  all  angling  arts  and 
lures,  the  Fontainebleau  Carp  live  a  life  of  great  enjoyment, 
marred  only,  we  imagine,  by  their  immense  numbers  causing 
the  supply  of  food  to  be  somewhat  below  their  requirements. 
It  is  not,  however,  very  easy  to  define  what  a  Carp's  require- 
ments in  the  form  of  pabulum  are,  as  he  is  a  voracious 
member  of  the  ichthyological  family,  eating  whenever  he 
has  an  opportunity  until  absolutely  surfeited.  His  favourite 
food  consists  of  vegetable  substances  masticated  by  means  of 
flat  striated  teeth,  which  work  with  a  millstone  kind  of 
motion  against  a  singular  process  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
skull  covered  with  horny  plates.  When  this  fish  obtains  an 
abundant  supply  of  food  it  grows  to  an  enormous  size. 
Several  continental  rivers  and  lakes  are  very  congenial  to 
Carp,  and  especially  the  Oder,  where  this  fish  occasionally 
attains  the  enormous  weight  of  60  Ib.  It  is  not  probable 
that  any  Carp  in  the  lake  at  Fontainebleau  are  so  large  as 
this  ;  but  there  are  certainly  many  weighing  50  Ib.,  patriarchs 
of  their  kind,  which,  though  olive-hued  in  their  tender 
years,  are  now  white  with  age.  That  the  great  size  of  these 
fish  is  due  to  ample  feeding  is,  we  think,  evident,  and,  as 
we  shall  see  presently,  it  is  the  large  fish  that  are  the  best 


FISH-TALK.  255 

fed.  During  many  years  the  feeding  of  the  Carp  at  Fon- 
tainebleau  has  been  a  favourite  Court  pastime.  But  it  is 
from  the  visitors  who  frequent  Fontainebleau  during  a  great 
part  of  the  year  that  the  Carp  receive  their  most  bountiful 
rations.  For  big  Carp  have  an  enormous  swallow,  soft 
penny  rolls  being  mere  mouthfuls,  bolted  with  ostrich-like 
celerity.  So  to  prevent  the  immediate  disappearance  of 
these  bonnes  bouches,  bread,  in  the  form  of  larger  balls  than 
the  most  capacious  Carp  can  take  into  his  gullet,  is  baked 
until  it  becomes  as  hard  as  biscuit,  and  with  these  balls  the 
Carp  are  regailed.  Throw  one  into  the  lake,  and  you  will 
quickly  have  an  idea  of  the  enormous  Carp  population  it 
contains.  For  no  sooner  does  the  bread  touch  the  water 
than  it  is  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  these  fish,  which  dart 
to  it  from  all  sides.  And  now,  if  you  look  attentively,  you 
will  witness  a  curious  display  of  instinct,  which  might 
almost  take  a  higher  name.  Conscious,  apparently,  of  their 
inability  to  crush  these  extremely  hard  balls,  the  Carp  com- 
bine with  surprising  unanimity  to  push  them  to  that  part  of 
the  lake  with  their  noses  where  it  is  bounded  by  a  wall,  and 
when  there  they  butt  at  them,  until  at  last  their  repeated 
blows  and  the  softening  effect  of  the  water  causes  them  to 
yield  and  open.  And  now  you  will  see  another  curious  sight. 
While  shoals  of  Carp  have  been  pounding  away  at  the 
bread-balls,  preparing  them  for  being  swallowed,  some  dozen 
monsters  hover  round,  indifferent,  apparently,  to  what  is 
passing.  But  not  so,  for  no  sooner  is  the  bread  ready  for 
eating,  than  two  or  three  of  these  giants,  but  more  generally 
one — the  tyrant,  probably,  of  the  lake — rush  to  the  prize, 
cleaving  the  shoals  of  smaller  Carp,  and  shouldering  them  to 
the  right  and  left,  seize  the  bread  with  open  jaws,  between 
which  it  quickly  disappears." 

Some  of  the  finest  and  oldest  Carp  are  found  in 
the  windings  of  the  Spree,  in  the  tavern-gardens  of 
Charlottenburg,  the  great  resort  of  strollers  from 
Berlin.  Visitors  are  in  the  habit  of  feeding  them 


256  FISH-TALK. 

with  bread,  and  collect  them  together  by  ringing  a 
bell,  at  the  sound  of  which  shoals  of  the  fish  may 
be  seen  popping  their  noses  upwards  from  the 
water. 

The  affection  of  fishes  has  only  been  properly 
understood  of  late  years.  It  might  be  supposed 
that  little  natural  affection  existed  in  this  cold- 
blooded race ;  and,  in  fact,  fishes  constantly  devour 
their  own  eggs,  and,  at  a  later  period,  their  own 
young,  without  compunction  or  discrimination. 
Some  few  species  bear  their  eggs  about  with  them 
until  hatched.  This  was  long  thought  to  be  the 
utmost  extent  of  care  which  fishes  lavished  on  their 
young ;  but  Dr.  Hancock  has  stepped  in  to  rescue 
at  least  one  species  from  this  unmerited  charge. 
"  It  is  asserted,"  he  says,  "  by  naturalists,  that  no 
fishes  are  known  to  take  any  care  of  their  offspring. 
Both  species  of  Hassar  mentioned  below,  however, 
make  a  regular  nest,  in  which  they  lay  their  eggs 
in  a  flattened  cluster,  and  cover  them  over  most 
carefully.  Their  care  does  not  end  here;  they 
remain  by  the  side  of  the  nest  till  the  spawn  is 
hatched,  with  as  much  solicitude  as  a  hen  guards 
her  eggs,  both  the  male  and  female  Hassar,  for 
they  are  monogamous,  steadily  watching  the  spawn 
and  courageously  attacking  the  assailant.  Hence 
the  negroes  frequently  take  them  by  putting  their 
hands  into  the  water  close  to  the  nest,  on  agitating 
which  the  male  Hassar  springs  furiously  at  them, 
and  is  thus  captured.  The  roundhead  forms  its  nest 
of  grass,  the  flathead  of  leaves.  Both,  at  certain 


FISH-TALK.  257 

seasons,  burrow  in  the  bank.  They  lay  their  eggs 
only  in  wet  weather.  I  have  been  surprised  to 
observe  the  sudden  appearance  of  numerous  nests  in 
a  morning  after  rain  occurs,  the  spot  being  indicated 
by  a  bunch  of  froth  which  appears  on  the  surface  of 
the  water  over  the  nest.  Below  this  are  the  eggs, 
placed  on  a  bunch  of  fallen  leaves  or  grass,  which 
they  cut  and  collect  together.  By  what  means  this 
is  effected  seems  rather  mysterious,  as  the  species 
are  destitute  of  cutting-teeth.  It  may,  possibly,  be 
by  the  use  of  their  arms,  which  form  the  first  ray 
of  the  pectoral  fin." 

There  is  another  operation  by  fishes,  which  seems 
to  require  almost  equal  experience.  Professor 
Agassiz,  while  collecting  insects  along  the  shores  of 
Lake  Sebago,  in  Maine,  observed  a  couple  of  Cat- 
fish, which,  at  his  approach,  left  the  shore  suddenly, 
and  returned  to  the  deeper  water.  Examining  the 
place  which  the  fishes  had  left,  he  discovered  a  nest 
among  the  water-plants,  with  a  number  of  little 
tadpoles.  In  a  few  moments  the  two  fishes  returned, 
looking  anxiously  towards  the  nest,  and  approached 
within  six  or  eight  feet  of  where  Professor  Agassiz 
stood.  They  were  evidently  not  in  search  of  food, 
and  he  Became  convinced  that  they  were  seeking  the 
protection  of  their  young.  Large  stones,  thrown 
repeatedly  into  the  middle  of  the  nest  after  the 
fishes  had  returned  to  it,  only  frightened  them  away 
for  a  brief  period,  and  they  returned  to  the  spot 
within  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  This  was  repeated 
four  or  five  times  with  the  same  result.  This  nega- 

R 


258  FISH-TALK. 

tives  the  assertion  made  by  some  naturalists — that 
no  fishes  are  known  to  take  any  care  of  their  off- 
spring. 

But  affection  is  scarcely  to  be  looked  for  where 
the  offspring  is  so  very  numerous  as  to  put  all 
attempts  at  even  recognising  them  out  of  the 
question.  How  could  the  fondest  mother  love 
100,000  little  ones  at  once?  Yet  the  number  is 
far  exceeded  by  some  of  the  matrons  of  the  deep. 
Petit  found  300,000  eggs  in  a  single  carp ;  Lenwen- 
hoeck  9,000,000  in  a  single  cod ;  Mr.  Harmer  found 
in  a  sole  100,000 ;  in  a  tench  300,000;  in  a  mackerel 
500,000  ;  and  in  a  flounder  1,357,000.*  M.  Rous- 
seau disburthened  a  pike  of  160,000,  and  a  sturgeon 
of  1,567,000,  while  from  this  latter  class  has  been 
gotten  119  pounds  weight  of  eggs,  which,  at  the 
rate  of  7  to  a  grain,  would  give  a  total  amount  of 
7,653,200  eggs !  If  all  these  came  to  maturity  the 
world  would  be  in  a  short  time  nothing  but  fish  : 
means,  however,  amply  sufficient  to  keep  down  this 
unwelcome  superabundance  have  been  provided. 
Fish  themselves,  men,  birds,  other  marine  animals, 


*  A  tench  was  brought  to  Mr.  Harmer  so  full  of  spawn 
that  the  skin  was  burst  by  a  slight  knock,  and  many  thou- 
sands of  the  eggs  were  lost ;  yet  even  after  this  misfortune 
lie  found  the  remainder  to  amount  to  383,252  !  Of  other 
mirine  animals,  which  he  includes  under  the  general  term 
fish,  the  fecundity,  though  sufficiently  great,  is  by  no  means 
enormous.  A  lobster  yielded  7,227  eggs  ;  a  prawn  3,806  ; 
and  a  shrimp  3,057.  See  Mr.  Banner's  paper,  "  Philoso- 
phical Transactions,"  1767. 


FISH-TALK.  259 

to  say  nothing  of  the  dispersions  produced  by  storms 
and  currents,  the  destruction  consequent  on  their 
being  thrown  on  the  beach  and  left  there  to  dry  up, 
all  combine  to  diminish  this  excessive  supply  over 
demand.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand  (so  wonderfully 
are  all  the  contrivances  of  nature  so  harmonized 
and  balanced),  one  of  these  apparent  modes  of 
destruction  becomes  an  actual  means  of  extending 
the  species.  The  eggs  of  the  pike,  barbel,  and 
many  other  fish,  says  M.  Yirey,  are  rendered 
indigestible  by  an  acid  oil  which  they  contain, 
and  in  consequence  of  which  they  are  passed  in 
the  same  condition  as  they  were  swallowed ;  the 
result  of  which  is,  that  being  taken  in  by  ducks, 
grebes,  or  other  water-fowls,  they  are  thus  trans- 
ported to  situations,  such  as  inland  lakes,  which 
otherwise  they  could  never  have  attained ;  and  in 
this  way  only  can  we  account  for  the  fact,  now  well 
ascertained,  that  several  lakes  in  the  Alps,  formed 
by  the  thawing  of  the  glaciers,  are  now  abundantly 
stocked  with  excellent  fish. 

Little  fishes  are  ordinarily  the  food  of  larger 
marine  animals  ;  but  a  remarkable  exception  occurs 
in  the  case  of  the  larger  Medusae,  which  are  stated 
in  various  works  to  prey  upon  fishes  for  sustenance. 
Mr.  Peach,  the  naturalist,  has,  however,  by  observa- 
tions at  Peterhead,  in  Aberdeenshire,  thus  corrected 
this  statement.  He  observed  several  small  fishes 
playing  round  the  larger  Medusae  in  the  harbour 
and  bay.  When  alarmed,  they  would  rush  under 
the  umbrella,  and  remain  sheltered  in  -its  large 
R  2 


260  FISH-TALK. 

folds  till  the  danger  had  passed,  when  they  would 
emerge,  and  sport  and  play  about  their  sheltering 
friend.  When  beneath  the  umbrella  they  lay  so 
close  that  they  were  frequently  taken  into  a  bucket 
with  the  Medusae.  They  proved  to  be  young  whit- 
ings, varying  from  1J  to  2  inches  long.  These  little 
creatures,  so  far  from  becoming  the  prey  of  the 
Medusae,  experienced  from  them  protection ;  and, 
morever,  they  preferred  the  stinging  one.  In  no 
instance  did  Mr.  Peach  see  a  fish  in  the  stomach 
of  the  Medusae,  but  all  could  liberate  themselves 
when  they  pleased.  In  one  case,  Mr.  Peach  wit- 
nessed a  small  whiting,  in  the  first  instance  chased 
by  a  single  young  pollack,  whose  assault  the  little 
fellow  easily  evaded  by  dodging  about ;  but  the 
chaser  being  joined  by  others,  the  whiting  was 
driven  from  its  imperfect  shelter,  and  after  being 
much  bitten  and  dashed  about  by  its  assailants, 
became  at  length  completely  exhausted,  and  lay  to 
all  appearance  dead.  Recovering,  however,  after 
action,  it  swam  slowly  to  the  Medusae,  and  took 
refuge  as  before ;  but  its  movements  being  soon 
observed,  it  was  again  attacked,  after  a  very  brief 
respite,  driven  into  open  water,  and  speedily  de- 
spatched. 

Fishes  appear  to  execute  annually  two  great 
migrations.  By  one  of  these  shiftings  they  forsake 
the  deep  water  for  a  time,  and  approach  the  shallow 
shores,  and  by  the  other  they  return  to  their  more 
concealed  haunts.  These  movements  are  connected 
with  the  purposes  of  spawning,  the  fry  requiring 


FISH-TALK.  261 

to  come  into  life,  and  to  spend  a  certain  portion  of 
their  youth  in  situations  different  from  those  which  are 
suited  to  the  period  of  maturity.  It  is  in  obedience 
to  these  arrangements  that  the  Cod  and  Haddock, 
the  Mackerel,  and  others,  annually  leave  the  deeper 
and  less  accessible  parts  of  the  ocean,  the  region  of 
the  zoophytic  tribes,  and  deposit  their  spawn  within 
that  zone  of  marine  vegetation  which  fringes  our 
coasts,  extending  from  near  the  high-water  mark  of 
neap-tides  to  a  short  distance  beyond  the  low-water 
mark  of  spring- tides.  Amidst  the  shelter  in  this 
region  afforded  by  the  groves  of  arborescent  fuci, 
the  young  fish  were  wont  in  comfort  to  spend  their 
infancy,  but  since  these  plants  have  been  so  fre- 
quently cut  down  to  procure  materials  for  the  manu- 
facture of  kelp,  and  the  requisite  protection  with- 
drawn, the  fisheries  have  greatly  suffered.  Many 
species  of  fish,  as  the  Salmon,  Smelt,  and  others, 
in  forsaking  the  deep  water,  and  approaching  a 
suitable  spawning  station,  leave  the  sea  altogether 
for  a  time,  ascend  the  rivers  and  their  tributary 
streams,  and,  having  deposited  their  eggs,  return 
again  to  their  usual  haunts.  Even  a  certain  species 
of  fish,  inhabiting  lakes,  as  the  Roach,  betake  them- 
selves to  the  tributary  streams,  as  the  most  suitable 
places  for  spawning. 

The  Groramy,  of  India,  are  stated  by  General 
Hardwicke  to  watch  most  actively  the  margins  of 
the  spot  which  they  select  and  prepare  for  depositing 
their  spawn,  driving  away  with  violence  every  other 
fish  which  approaches  their  cover.  The  General  adds 


262  FISH-TALK. 

that  from  the  time  he  first  noticed  this  circumstance 
about  one  month  had  elapsed,  when  one  day  he  saw 
numerous  minute  fishes  close  to  the  margin  of  the 
grass,  on  the  outer  side  of  which  the  parent  fishes 
continued  to  pass  to  and  fro. 

There  is  a  species  of  Grampus  from  two  to  three 
tons  weight,  and  about  sixteen  feet  in  length,  that 
amuses  itself  with  jumping,  or  rather  springing  its 
ponderous  body  entirely  out  of  the  water,  in  a 
vertical  position,  and  falling  upon  its  back.  This 
effort  of  so  large  a  fish  is  almost  incredible,  and 
informs  us  how  surprisingly  great  the  power  of 
muscle  must  be  in  this  class  of  animal.  A  Corre- 
spondent writes  to  the  "  United  Service  Journal "  : 
— "  I  have  seen  them  spring  out  of  the  water  within 
ten  yards  of  the  ship's  side,  generally  in  the  evening, 
after  having  swam  all  the  former  part  of  the  day  in 
the  ship's  wake,  or  on  either  quarter.  When  several 
of  these  fish  take  it  into  their  heads  to  '  dance  a 
hornpipe,'  as  the  sailors  term  their  gambols,  at  the 
distance  of  half  a  mile,  they,  especially  at  or  just 
after  sundown,  may  easily  be  mistaken  for  the  sharp 
points  of  rocks  sticking  up  out  of  the  water,  and 
the  splashing  and  foam  they  make  and  produce  have 
the  appearance  of  the  action  of  waves  upon  rocks. 
An  officer  of  the  navy  informed  me  that,  after  sun- 
set, when  near  the  equator,  he  was  not  a  little 
alarmed  and  surprised  at  the  cry  of  'rocks  on  the 
starboard  bow  ! '  Looking  forward,  he  indistinctly 
saw  objects  which  he  and  all  on  board  took  to  be 
pinnacles  of  several  rocks  of  a  black  and  white 


FISH-TALK.  263 

colour.  In  a  short  time,  however,  he  discovered  this 
formidable  danger  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  com- 
pany of  dancing  Grampuses  with  white  bellies.  As 
one  disappeared,  another  rose ;  so  that  there  were  at 
least  five  or  six  constantly  above  the  surface." 

Captain  Owen  relates  that  "the  Bonita  has  the 
power  of  throwing  itself  out  of  the  water  to  an 
almost  incredible  distance  when  in  pursuit  of  its 
prey,  the  Flying  Fish ;  and,  the  day  previous  to  our 
arrival  at  Mozambique,  one  of  these  fish  rose  close 
under  our  bow,  and  passed  under  the  vessel's  side, 
and  struck  with  such  force  against  the  poop,  that, 
had  any  one  received  the  blow,  it  must  have  been 
fatal.  Stunned  by  the  violence  of  the  contact,  it 
fell  motionless  at  the  helmsman's  feet;  but,  soon 
recovering,  its  struggles  were  so  furious  that  it 
became  necessary  to  inflict  several  blows  with  an  axe 
before  it  could  be  approached  with  safety.  The 
greatest  elevation  it  attained  above  the  surface  of 
water  was  eighteen  feet,  and  the  length  of  the  leap, 
had  no  opposition  occurred,  would  have  exceeded 
180." 

Of  winged  or  Flying  Fish  we  find  this  extravagant 
account  in  a  philosophical  romance,  entitled,  "  Tel- 
liamed,"  by  M.  Maillet,  an  ingenious  Frenchman,  of 
the  days  of  Louis  XY. : — 

He  believed,  like  Lamarck,  that  the  whole  family  of  birds 
had  existed  one  time  as  fishes,  which,  on  being  thrown  ashore 
by  the  waves,  had  got  feathers  by  accident ;  and  that  men 
themselves  are  but  the  descendants  of  a  tribe  of  sea-monsters, 
who,  tiring  of  their  proper  element,  crawled  upon  the  beach 
one  sunny  morning,  and,  taking  a  fancy  to  the  land,  forgot  to 


264  FISH-TALK. 

return.  The  account  is  as  amusing  as  a  fairy  tale.  "  Winged 
or  Flying  Fish,"  says  Maillet,  "  stimulated  by  the  desire  of 
prey,  or  the  fear  of  death,  or  pushed  near  the  shore  by  the 
billows,  have  fallen  among  the  reeds  or  herbage,  whence  it 
was  not  possible  for  them  to  resume  their  flight  to  the  sea,  by 
means  of  which  they  had  contracted  their  first  facility  of 
flying.  Then  their  fins,  being  no  longer  bathed  in  the  sea- 
water,  were  split  and  became  warped  by  their  dryness.  While 
they  found  among  the  reeds  and  herbage  among  which  they 
fell  many  aliments  to  support  them,  the  vessels  of  their  fins 
being  separated,  were  lengthened,  or  clothed  with  beards,  or, 
to  speak  more  justly,  the  membranes  which  before  kept  them 
adherent  to  each  other  were  metamorphosed.  The  beard 
formed  of  these  warped  membranes  was  lengthened.  The 
skin  of  these  animals  was  insensibly  covered  with  a  down  of 
the  same  colour  with  the  skin,  and  this  down  gradually  in- 
creased. The  little  wings  they  had  under  their  belly,  and 
which,  like  their  wings,  helped  them  to  walk  into  the  sea, 
became  feet,  and  helped  them  to  walk  on  the  land.  There 
were  also  other  small  changes  in  their  figure.  The  beak 
and  neck  of  some  were  lengthened,  and  of  others  shortened. 
The  conformity,  however,  of  the  first  figure  subsists  in  the 
whole,  and  it  will  be  always  easy  to  know  it.  Examine  all 
the  species  of  fowl,  even  those  of  the  Indies,  those  which  are 
tufted  or  not,  those  whose  feathers  are  reversed— such  as  we 
see  at  Damietta,  that  is  to  say,  whose  plumage  runs  from  the 
tail  to  the  head — and  you  wTill  see  fine  species  of  fish  quite 
similar,  scaly  or  without  scales.  All  species  of  Parrots,  whose 
plumages  are  different,  the  rarest  and  most  singular  marked 
birds,  are,  conformable  to  fact,  painted,  like  them,  black, 
brown,  grey,  yellow,  green,  red,  violet  colour,  and  those  of 
gold  and  azure  ;  and  all  this  precisely  in  the  same  parts,  where 
the  plumages  of  these  birds  are  diversified  in  so  curious  a 
manner." 

The  Jaculator  Fish,  of  Java,  has  been  called  "  a 
sporting  fish/'  from  the  precision  with  which  it  takes 


FISH-TALK.  265 

aim  at  its  prey.  In  1828  Mr.  Mitchell  saw  several 
of  these  fishes  in  the  possession  of  a  Javanese  chief ; 
and  here  is  the  account  of  the  curious  manner  in  which 
these  Jaculators  were  employed.  They  were  placed 
in  a  small  circular  pond,  from  the  centre  of  which 
projected  a  pole  upwards  of  two  feet  in  height.  At 
the  top  of  the  pole  were  inserted  small  pieces  of 
wood,  sharp-pointed,  and  on  each  of  these  were  placed 
insects  of  the  beetle  tribe.  When  the  slaves  had 
placed  the  beetles,  the  fish  came  out  of  their  holes, 
and  swam  round  the  pond.  One  of  them  came  to  the 
surface  of  the  water,  rested  there,  and  after  steadily 
fixing  its  eyes  for  some  time  on  an  insect,  it  dis- 
charged from  its  mouth  a  small  quantity  of  watery 
fluid,  with  such  force,  and  precision  of  aim,  as  to 
strike  it  oif  the  twig  into  the  water,  and  in  an  instant 
swallowed  it.  After  this,  another  fish  came,  and 
performed  a  similar  feat,  and  was  followed  by  the 
others,  until  they  had  secured  all  the  insects.  If  a 
fish  failed  in  bringing  down  its  prey  at  the  first  shot, 
it  swam  round  the  pond  till  it  came  opposite  the 
same  object,  and  fired  again.  In  one  instance,  a  fish 
returned  three  times  to  the  attack  before  it  secured 
its  prey ;  but  in  general  the  fish  seemed  very  expert 
gunners,  bringing  down  the  beetle  at  the  first  shot. 
The  fish,  in  a  state  of  nature,  frequents  the  shores 
and  sides  of  the  rivers  in  search  of  food.  When  it 
spies  a  fly  sitting  on  the  plants  that  grow  on  shallow 
water,  it  swims  on  to  the  distance  of  five  or  six  feet 
from  them,  and  then,  with  surprising  dexterity,  it 
ejects  out  of  its  tubular  mouth  a  single  drop  of  water, 


266  FISH-TALK. 

which  rarely  fails  to  strike  the  fly  into  the  sea,  where 
it  soon  becomes  its  prey. 

Curious  fish,  in  great  numbers,  may  be  seen  in  the 
Harbour  of  Port  Royal,  Jamaica,  on  the  surface  of 
the  water,  and  are  ranked  among  the  peculiarities 
of  the  place.  They  are  the  Guardo,  or  Guard-Fish ; 
the  Jack  ( Sword-Fish) ;  and  the  Ballahou.  The  Jack 
is  the  largest,  and  appears  to  be  always  at  war  with 
the  two  others;  it  is  armed  with  formidable  teeth; 
it  basks  on  the  surface  of  the  water  during  the  heat 
of  the  day,  in  a  sort  of  indolent,  unguarded  state ; 
but  this  is  assumed,  the  better  to  ensnare  the  other 
fish,  and  to  catch  the  floating  bodies  that  may  happen 
to  pass  near  it ;  for  the  moment  anything  is  thrown 
into  the  sea  from  the  ship,  the  Jack  darts  with  the 
rapidity  of  lightning  upon  it,  and  seizing  it  as  quickly, 
retreats.  This  Warrior-fish  possesses  a  foresight  or 
instinctive  quality  which  we  see  sometimes  exem- 
plified in  different  animals,  almost  amounting  to 
second  reason,  such  as  the  sagacity  it  displays  in 
avoiding  the  hook  when  baited ;  although  extremely 
voracious,  it  seems  aware  of  the  lure  held  out  for  its 
destruction,  and  avoids  it  with  as  much  cunning  as 
the  generality  of  fishes  show  eagerness  to  devour  it. 
The  situation  it  takes,  immediately  in  the  wake  of 
the  ship  at  anchor,  is  another  instance  of  its  sagacity; 
as  whatever  is  thrown  overboard  passes  astern,  where 
the  fish  is  ever  on  the  alert  for  the  articles  thrown 
over.  No  other  fish  of  equal  size  dare  approach. 
The  Jack  is,  however,  sometimes  enticed  with  the 
bait ;  but  he  is  more  frequently  struck  with  a  barbed 


FISH-TALK.  267 

lance,  or  entrapped  in  a  net.  The  Guardo  has  similar 
habits  with  the  Jack,  but  is  generally  beaten  by  him ; 
yet  the  former  tyrannizes  with  unrelenting  rigour 
over  the  weaker  associate,  the  Ballahou. 

The  tiger  of  the  ocean,  the  Shark,  is  often  cruising 
about  Port  Royal,  but  rarely  injures  human  life. 
At  Kingston,  however,  such  distressing  events  often 
occur.  There  was  a  pet  Shark  known  as  "  Old  Tom 
of  Port  Royal ;"  it  was  fed  whenever  it  approached 
any  of  the  ships,  but  was  at  last  killed  by  the  father 
of  a  child  which  it  had  devoured.  Whilst  it  remained 
here,  no  other  of  the  Shark  tribe  dare  venture  on  his 
domain ;  he  reigned  lord  paramount  in  his  watery 
empire,  and  never  committed  any  depredation  but 
that  for  which  he  suffered. 

Attending  the  Shark  is  seen  the  beautiful  little 
Pilot  Fish,  who,  first  approaching  the  bait,  returns 
as  if  to  give  notice,  when,  immediately  after,  the 
Shark  approaches  to  seize  it.  It  is  a  curious  circum- 
stance, that  this  elegant  little  fish  is  seen  in  attend- 
ance only  upon  the  Shark.  After  the  Shark  is 
hooked,  the  Pilot  Fish  still  swims  about,  and  for 
some  time  after  he  has  been  hauled  on  deck ;  it  then 
swims  very  near  the  surface  of  the  water.  When 
the  Shark  has  been  hooked,  and  afterwards  escapes, 
he  generally  returns,  and  renews  the  attack  with  in- 
creased ferocity,  irritated  often  by  the  wound  he  has 
received. 

Sharks  appear  to  have  become  of  late  years  much 
more  numerous  in  Faroe,  as  they  have  also  in  other 


268  FISH-TALK. 

parts  of  the  North  Seas,  especially  on  the  coast  of 
Norway. 

The  reader  may,  probably,  have  found  on  the  sea- 
shore certain  cases,  which  are  fancifully  called  sea- 
purses,  mermaids'  purses,  &c.  Now,  some  Sharks 
bring  forth  their  young  alive,  whilst  others  are 
enclosed  in  oblong  semi-transparent,  horny  cases,  at 
each  extremity  of  which  are  two  long  tendrils. 
These  cases  are  the  above  purses,  which  the  parent 
Shark  deposits  near  the  shore  in  the  winter  months. 
The  twisting  tendrils  hang  to  sea-weed,  or  other 
fixed  bodies,  to  prevent  the  cases  being  washed  away 
into  deep  water.  Two  fissures,  one  at  each  end, 
allow  the  admission  of  sea-water  ;  and  here  the  young 
Shark  remains  until  it  has  acquired  the  power  of 
taking  food  by  the  mouth,  when  it  leaves  what  re- 
sembles its  cradle.  The  young  fish  ultimately  escapes 
by  an  opening  at  the  end,  near  which  the  head  is 
situated. 

California  has  yielded  an  extraordinary  novelty 
in  fish  history.  In  1854  Mr.  Jackson,  while  fishing 
in  San  Salita  Bay,  caught  with  a  hook  and  line  a 
fish  of  the  perch  family  containing  living  young. 
These  were  supposed  to  be  the  prey  which  the  fish 
had  swallowed,  but  on  opening  the  belly  was  found 
next  to  the  back  of  the  fish,  and  slightly  attached  to  it, 
a  long  very  light  violet  bag,  so  clear  and  transparent 
that  there  could  already  be  distinguished  through 
it  the  shape,  colour,  and  formation  of  a  multitude  of 
small  fish  (all  facsimiles  of  each  other),  with  which 


FISH-TALK.  269 

the  bag  was  filled.  They  were  in  all  respects  like 
the  mother,  and  like  each  other ;  and  there  cannot 
remain  a  single  doubt  that  these  young  were  the 
offspring  of  the  fish  from  whose  body  they  were 
taken  ;  and  that  this  species  of  fish  gives  birth  to 
her  young  alive  and  perfectly  formed,  and  adapted 
to  seek  its  own  livelihood  in  the  water.  Professor 
Agassiz  has  confirmed  the  truth  of  this  extraordinary 
statement  by  a  careful  examination  of  the  specimens, 
and  has  ascertained  that  there  are  two  very  distinct 
species  of  this  remarkable  type  of  fishes. 

Tales  of  "Wonderful  Fish"  are  common  in  the 
works  of  the  old  naturalists,  whence  they  are  quoted 
from  generation  to  generation.  Sir  John  Richard- 
son has  lately  demolished  one  queer  fish,  which  was 
as  certain  to  reappear  whenever  opportunity  offered, 
as  the  elephant  pricked  with  the  tailor's  needle 
does  in  books  of  stories  of  the  animal  world.  We 
allude  to  that  monstrous  myth,  the  great  Manheim 
Pike,  with  a  collar  round  his  neck,  put  into  a  lake 
by  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  in  the  year  1230  ; 
and  taken  out  in  the  276th  year  of  his  age,  the  17th 
foot  of  his  length,  and  the  350th  pound  of  his  weight. 
M.  Yalenciennes,  a  naturalist  of  repute,  has  entered 
into  a  critical  history  of  this  monster,  and  has  found 
him  to  be  apocryphal.  The  creature  was,  at  any 
rate,  taken  in  several  places  at  once,  the  legends 
written  on  his  brass  collar  do  not  agree,  and  his 
alleged  skeleton  has  been  found  to  be  made  up  of 
various  bones  of  various  fishes ;  while  the  vertebrae 
are,  unfortunately,  so  many,  that  Professor  Owen 


270  FISH-TALK. 

would  order  him  out  of  Court  in  an  instant  as  a 
rank  impostor.  Probably  some  specimen  of  tlie 
Mecho,  the  monstrous  fish  of  the  Danube — which 
has  even  now  been  scarcely  described,  and  which 
has  only  recently  been  identified  as  one  of  the 
salmon  tribe — having  been  called  a  pike,  may  be 
at  the  bottom  of  the  legend  of  the  great  Manheim 
fish.  But  Sir  John  Richardson  produces  another 
big  pike,  killed  by  an  intrepid  u  angler  seventy 
years  of  age,  with  a  single  rod  and  bait " — an 
observation  which  leads  to  the  inquiry  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  catching  a  single  fish  with  more  than  one 
rod  and  bait — "  that  weighed  seventy-eight  pounds." 
This  is  stated  to  have  happened  in  the  county  of 
Clare ;  the  angler's  name  was  O'Flanagan. 

Here  is  another  wonderful  story  : — The  Bohe- 
mians have  a  proverb — "  Every  fish  has  another  for 
prey :  "  that  named  the  Wels  has  them  all.  This 
is  the  largest  fresh-water  fish  found  in  the  rivers  of 
Europe,  except  the  sturgeon ;  it  often  reaches  five 
or  six  feet  in  length.  It  destroys  many  aquatic 
birds,  and  we  are  assured  that  it  does  not  spare  the 
human  species.  On  the  3d  of  July,  1700,  a  peasant 
took  one  near  Thorn,  that  had  an  infant  entire  in  its 
stomach !  They  tell  in  Hungary  of  children  and 
young  girls  being  devoured  on  going  to  draw  water ; 
and  they  even  relate  that,  on  the  frontiers  of  Turkey, 
a  poor  fisherman  took  one  that  had  in  its  stomach 
the  body  of  a  woman,  her  purse  full  of  gold,  and  a 
ring  !  The  fish  is  even  reported  to  have  been  taken 
sixteen  feet  long.  The  old  stories  of  rings  found 


FISH-TALK.  271 

in  the  stomachs  of  fishes  will  be  remembered ;  as  well  as 
here  and  there  a  book  found  in  the  stomach  of  a  fish ! 

The  Sun-fish  is  exceedingly  rare.  A  large  speci- 
men was  captured  oif  Start  Point  in  1864.  Atten- 
tion was  first  drawn  to  a  huge  dark  object  on  the 
water.  On  a  boat  being  sent  out,  it  was  soon  dis- 
covered to  be  the  back  fin  of  a  very  large  fish, 
apparently  asleep.  A  very  exciting  chase  com- 
menced, extending  over  an  hour,  the  crew  meanwhile 
battling  with  harpoons,  boat-hooks,  &c. ;  the  fish 
trying  several  times  to  upset  the  boat  by  getting  his 
back  under  it.  At  length  a  line  was  thrown  over  its 
head,  and  the  fish,  being  weakened  by  the  struggle, 
was  towed  alongside  the  yacht,  hoisted  on  board,  and 
slaughtered.  Yarrell,  in  his  work  on  British  .Fishes, 
states  the  largest  Sun-fish  to  be  about  3  cwt.,  but 
the  above  specimen  weighed  nearly  6  cwt.  Sun-fish 
are  found  occasionally  in  the  tropical  seas  of  large 
dimensions,  but  those  found  in  the  Channel  seldom 
if  ever  exceed  from  1  cwt.  to  2  cwt.  The  peculiari- 
ties in  regard  to  this  fish  are,  that  it  has  no 
bones,  but  the  whole  of  the  formation  is  of  cartilage, 
which  can  easily  be  cut  with  a  knife.  The  skin  is 
cartilage  of  about  an  inch  and  a-half  thick,  under 
which  there  is  no  backbone  or  ribs.  This  specimen 
was  of  extraordinary  dimensions — 5  ft.  10  in.  in 
length,  and  7  ft.  from  the  tip  of  the  dorsal  to  the 
point  of  the  anal  fin. 

The  "  Courrier  de  Sagon  "  brings,  as  a  contribu- 
tion to  Natural  History,  the  not  very  credible- 
sounding  description  of  a  fish  called  "  Ca-oug  "  in 


272  FISH-TALK. 

the  Anamite  tongue,  which,  is  said  to  have  saved  the 
lives  already  of  several  Anamites ;  for  which  reason 
the  King  of  An  am  has  invested  it  with  the  name  of 
"  Nam  hai  dui  bnong  gnan  "  (Great  General  of  the 
South  Sea).  This  fish  is  said  to  swim  round  ships 
near  the  coast,  and,  when  it  sees  a  man  in  the  water, 
to  seize  him  with  his  mouth,  and  to  carry  him  ashore. 
A  skeleton  of  this  singular  inhabitant  of  the  deep  is 
to  be  seen  at  Wung-tau,  near  Cape  St.  James.  It  is 
reported  to  be  thirty-five  feet  in  length,  to  have 
tusks  "  almost  like  an  elephant,"  very  large  eyes,  a 
black  and  smooth  skin,  a  tail  like  a  lobster,  and  two 
"  wings  "  on  its  back."* 

The  Grouper  must  be  a  voracious  fish,  for  we  read 
of  a  specimen  being  caught  off  the  coast  of  Queens- 
land, which  is  thus  described  : — "  It  was  7  ft.  long, 
6ft.  in  circumference  at  its  thickest  part,  and  its 
head  weighed  80  Ib.  When  opened,  there  were 
found  in  its  stomach  two  broken  bottles,  a  quart 
pot,  a  preserved  milk  tin,  seven  medium-sized  crabs  ; 
a  piece  of  earthenware,  triangular  in  shape,  and 
three  inches  in  length,  incrusted  with  oyster  shells, 
a  sheep's  head,  some  mutton  and  beef  bones,  and 
some  loose  oyster  shells.  The  spine  of  a  skate  was 
imbedded  in  the  Grouper's  liver." 

The  Double-fish,  here  represented,  is  a  pair  of 
Cat-fish,  which  were  taken  alive  in  a  shrimp-net,  at 
the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River,  near  Fort  Johnston, 
North  Carolina,  in  1833,  and  presented  to  Professor 
Silliman.  One  of  them  is  three  and  a-half,  and  the 
*  "Athemeum." 


FISH-TALK.  273 

other  two  and  a-half  inches  long,  including  the  tail 
— the  smallest  emaciated,  and  of  sickly  appearance. 
They  are  connected  in  the  manner  of  the  Siamese 
Twins,  by  the  skin  at  the  breast,  which  is  marked 
by  a  dark  streak  at  the  line  of  union.  The  texture 
and  colour  otherwise  of  this  skin  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  belly.  The  mouth,  viscera,  &c.,  were  entire 
and  perfect  in  each  fish ;  but,  on  withdrawing  the 
entrails,  through  an  incision  made  on  one  side  of  the 
abdomen,  the  connecting  integument  was  found  to 
be  hollow.  A  flexible  probe  was  passed  through 
from  one  to  the  other,  with  the  tender  and  soft  end 
of  a  spear  of  grass,  drawn  from  a  green  plant.  But 
there  was  no  appearance  of  the  entrails  of  one 
having  come  in  contact  with  those  of  the  other, 
for  the  integument  was  less  than  one-tenth  of  an 
inch  in  its  whole  thickness ;  in  length,  from  the 
body  or  trunk  of  one  fish  to  the  other,  it  was  three  - 
tenths ;  and  in  the  water,  when  the  largest  fish  was 
in  its  natural  position,  the  small  one  could,  by  the 
length  and  pliancy  of  this  skin,  swim  in  nearly  the 
same  position.  When  these  fish  came  into  existence 
it  is  probable  they  were  of  almost  equal  size  and 
strength,  but  one  "born  to  better  fortune,"  or 
exercising  more  ingenuity  and  industry  than  the 
other,  gained  a  trifling  ascendency,  which  he  im- 
proved to  increase  the  disparity,  and,  by  pushing 
his  extended  mouth  in  advance  of  the  other,  seized 
the  choicest  and  most  of  the  food  for  himself. 

From  the  northern  parts  of  British  America  we 
have  received  extraordinary  contributions  to  our  fish 


274  FISH-TALK. 

collections.  One  of  these  is  the  Square-browed 
Malthe,  obtained  in  one  of  the  land  expeditions 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Sir  John  Franklin, 
R.N.  It  was  taken  on  the  Labrador  coast,  and  then 
belonged  to  a  species  hitherto  undescribed.  Its  in- 
testines were  filled  with  small  crabs  and  univalve 
shells.  The  extreme  length  of  the  fish  is  7  inches 
11  lines.  The  upper  surface  is  greyish  white,  with 
brown  blotches,  and  the  fins  are  whitish.  The  head 
is  much  depressed  and  greatly  widened  ;  the  eyes  far 
forward;  the  snout  projecting  like  a  small  horn. 
Most  of  the  fish  of  this  family  can  live  long  out  of 
water,  in  consequence  of  the  smallness  of  their 
gill-openings ;  indeed,  those  of  one  of  the  genera 
are  able,  even  in  warm  countries,  to  pass  two  or 
three  days  in  creeping  over  the  land.  All  the  family 
conceal  themselves  in  the  mud  or  sand,  and  lie  in 
wait  to  take  their  prey  by  surprise.  The  accompany- 
ing engraving  is  from  the  very  able  work  of  Dr. 
Richardson,  F.R.S.,  published  by  the  munificence  of 
Government. 

Gold  Fish  (of  the  Carp  family)  have  been  made 
to  distinguish  a  particular  sound  made  by  those 
from  whom  they  receive  their  food ;  they  recog- 
nise their  footsteps  at  a  distance,  and  come  at  their 
call.  Captain  Brown  says  Gold  Fish,  when  kept 
in  ponds,  are  "  frequently  taught  to  rise  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  water  at  the  sound  of  a  bell  to  be  fed ;  " 
and  Mr.  Jesse  was  assured  that  Gold  Fish  evince 
much  pleasure  on  being  whistled  to.  Hakewill,  in 
his  "Apology  for  God's  Power  and  Providence," 


SQUARE-BROWED    MAI.THK   AND   IKH'BI.K   FISH. 


FISH-TALK.  275 

cites  Pliny  to  show  that  a  certain  emperor  had  ponds 
containing  fish,  which,  when  called  by  their  re- 
spective names  that  were  bestowed  upon  them,  came 
to  the  spot  whence  the  voice  proceeded.  Bernier, 
in  his  "  History  of  Hindustan,"  states  a  like  circum- 
stance of  the  fish  belonging  to  the  Great  Mogul. 
The  old  poet,  Martial,  also  mentions  fish  coming  at 
the  call,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  translation 
from  one  of  his  epigrams  : — 

"  Angler  !  could' st  thou  be  guiltless  ?     Then  forbear  : 
For  these  are  sacred  fishes  that  swim  here  ; 
Who  know  their  Sovereign,  and  will  lick  his  hand, 
Than  which  none's  greater  in  the  world's  command  ; 
Nay,  more  ;  they've  names,  and  when  they  called  are, 
Do  to  their  several  owners'  call  repair." 

Who,  after  reading  so  many  instances,  can  doubt 
that  fish  hear  ? 

It  has  been  found  that  the  water  from  steam- 
engines,  which  is  thrown  into  dams  or  ponds  for 
the  purpose  of  being  cooled,  conduces  much  to  the 
nutriment  of  Gold  Fish.  In  these  dams,  the  average 
temperature  of  which  is  about  eighty  degrees,  it  is 
common  to  keep  Gold  Fish ;  in  which  situation  they 
multiply  much  more  rapidly  than  in  ponds  of  lower 
temperature  exposed  to  variations  of  the  climate. 
Three  pair  of  fish  were  put  into  one  of  these  dams, 
where  they  increased  so  rapidly  that  at  the  end  of 
three  years  their  progeny,  which  was  accidentally 
poisoned  by  verdigris  mixed  with  the  refuse  tallow 
from  the  engine,  were  taken  out  by  wheel-barrow- 
fuls.  Gold  Fish  are  by  no  means  useless  inhabitants 
s  2 


276  FISH-TALK. 

of  these  dams,  as  they  consume  the  refuse  grease 
which  would  otherwise  impede  the  cooling  of  the 
water  by  accumulating  on  its  surface.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  this  unusual  supply  of  aliment  may 
co-operate  with  increase  of  temperature  in  promoting 
the  fecundity  of  the  fishes. 

Most  of  our  readers  have  heard  of  the  fish 
popularly  known  as  the  Miller's  Thumb,  the  origin 
of  the  name  of  which  Mr.  Yarrell  has  thus  ex- 
plained : — "  It  is  well  known  that  all  the  science 
and  tact  of  a  miller  is  directed  so  to  regulate  the 
machinery  of  his  mill  that  the  meal  produced  shall 
be  of  the  most  valuable  description  that  the  opera- 
tion of  grinding  will  permit,  when  performed  under 
the  most  advantageous  circumstances.  His  ear  is 
constantly  directed  to  the  note  made  by  the  running 
stone  in  its  circular  course  over  the  bedstone,  the 
exact  parallelism  of  their  two  surfaces,  indicated  by 
a  particular  sound,  being  a  matter  of  the  first  con- 
sequence ;  and  his  hand  is  constantly  placed  under 
the  meal-spout  to  ascertain,  by  actual  contact,  the 
character  and  quality  of  the  meal  produced,  which 
he  does  by  a  particular  movement  of  his  thumb  in 
spreading  the  sample  over  his  fingers.  By  this 
incessant  action  of  the  miller's  thumb,  a  peculiarity 
in  its  shape  is  produced,  which  is  said  to  resemble 
exactly  the  shape  of  the  river  bull-head,  a  fish  con- 
stantly found  in  the  mill-stream,  and  which  has 
obtained  for  it  the  name  of  the  Miller's  Thumb." 

M.  Coste  has  constructed  a  kind  of  marine  ob- 
servatory at  Concarneau  (Finisterre)  for  the  purpose 


FISH-TALK.  277 

of  studying  the  habits  and  instincts  of  various  Sea- 
fish.     A  terrace  has  been  formed  on  the  top  of  a 
house  on  the  quay,  with  reservoirs  arranged  like  a 
flight  of  steps.     The  sea- water  is  pumped  up  to  the 
topmost   reservoir,   and  thence  flows  down  slowly, 
after  the  manner  of  a  rivulet.    The  length  is  divided 
into  95  cells  by  wire  net  partitions,  which,  allowing 
free  passage  to  the  water,  yet  prevent  the  different 
species  of  fish  from  mingling  together.      By   this 
ingenious  contrivance  each  kind  lives  separate,  en- 
joying its  peculiar  food  and  habits,  unconscious  of  its 
state  of  captivity.    Some  species,  such  as  the  Mullet, 
the  Stickleback,  &c.,  grow  perfectly  tame,  will  follow 
the  hand  that  offers  them  food,  and  will  even  allow 
themselves  to  be  taken  out  of  the  water.     The  Goby 
and  Bull-head  are  less  familiar.     The  Turbot,  which 
looks  so  unintelligent,  will,  nevertheless,  take  food 
from  the  hand  ;  it  changes  colour  when  irritated,  the 
spots  with  which  it  is  covered  growing  pale  or  dark, 
according  to  the  emotions  excited  in  it.     But  the 
most  curious  circumstance  concerning  it  is,  that  it 
swallows    fish    of  a   much   larger  size  than  would 
appear  compatible  with  the  apparent    smallness   of 
its  mouth.     Thus,  a  young  Turbot,  not  more  than 
ten   inches   in    length,   has    been    seen  to  swallow 
Pilchards  of  the  largest  size.     The  Pipe-Fish  has 
two  peculiarities.     These  fish  form  groups,  entwin- 
ing their  tails  together,  and  remaining  immoveable 
in   a   vertical   position,   with   their  heads  upwards. 
When  food  is  offered  them,  they  perform  a  curious 
evolution — they  turn  round  on  their  backs  to  receive 


278  FISH-TALK. 

it.  This  is  owing  to  the  peculiar  position  of  the 
mouth,  which  is  placed  under  a  kind  of  beak,  and 
perpendicular  to  its  axis. 

The  crustaceous  tribes  have  also  furnished  much 
matter  of  observation.  The  Prawn  and  Crab,  for 
instance,  exercises  the  virtue  of  conjugal  fidelity  to 
the  highest  degree ;  for  the  male  takes  hold  of  his 
mate,  and  never  lets  her  go ;  he  swims  with  her, 
crawls  about  with  her,  and  if  she  is  forcibly  taken 
away  from  him,  he  seizes  hold  of  her  again.  The 
metamorphoses  to  which  various  crustaceous  tribes 
are  subject  have  also  been  studied  with  much 
attention.* 

Much  as  the  nature  and  habits  of  fish  have  been 
studied  of  late  years,  the  economy  of  some  is  to  this 
day  involved  in  obscurity.  The  Herring  is  one  of 
these  fishes.  The  Swedish  Herring  Fisheries  were, 
at  one  time,  the  largest  in  Europe,  but  at  present, 
during  the  temporary  disappearance  of  the  fish,  they 
have  dwindled  away.  The  causes  which  influence 
the  movements  of  the  Herring — one  of  the  most 
capricious  of  fish — are  a  puzzle  which  naturalists 
have  as  yet  failed  to  solve.  They  are  not  migratory, 
as  was  at  one  time  believed — that  is,  they  seldom 
wander  far  from  the  place  where  they  were  bred ; 
but  they  are  influenced  by  certain  hidden  and  unex- 
plained causes  at  one  time  to  remain  for  years  in  the 
deep  sea,  and  at  another  to  come  close  in  to  land  in 
enormous  numbers.  During  the  first  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  Herrings  entirely  deserted  the 
*  See  «  The  Tree-climbing  Crab,"  pp.  282-302. 


FISH-TALK.  279 

Swedish  coasts.  In  1556  they  reappeared,  and  re- 
mained for  thirty-one  years  in  the  shallow  waters. 
Throughout  this  period  they  were  taken  in  incalcu- 
lable numbers ;  "  thousands  of  ships  came  annually 
from  Denmark,  Germany,  Friesland,  Holland,  Eng- 
land, and  France,  to  purchase  the  fish,  of  which 
sufficient  were  always  found  for  them  to  carry  away 
to  their  own  or  other  countries.  .  .  .  From  the  small 
town  of  Marstrand  alone  some  two  million  four 
hundred  thousand  bushels  were  yearly  exported." 
In  1587  the  Herrings  disappeared,  and  remained 
absent  for  seventy-three  years,  till  1660.  In  1727 
they  returned,  and  again  in  1747,  remaining  till 
1808,  and  during  this  last  period  the  fisheries  were 
prosecuted  with  extraordinary  zeal,  industry,  and 
success.  The  Government  gave  every  encourage- 
ment to  settlers,  and  it  was  computed  that  during 
some  years  as  many  as  fifty  thousand  strangers 
took  part  in  them.  In  1808  the  Herrings  once 
more  disappeared,  and  have  never  returned  since. 
The  cause  must  still  be  considered  as  quite  un- 
known ;  but  we  may  fairly  assume,  according  to 
historical  precedents,  that  after  a  certain  period  of 
absence,  the  Herrings  will  again  return.* 

Aristotle,  in  his  "  History  of  Animals,"  makes 
some  extremely  curious  observations  on  Fish  and 
Cetaceous  Animals,  as  might  be  expected  from  the 
variety  of  these  animals  in  the  Grecian  seas.  In 
Spratt  and  Forbes' s  "  Travels  in  Syria  "  the  account 
of  the  habits  and  structure  of  the  Cuttle-fish  in 
*  "  Saturday  Keview." 


280  FISH-TALK. 

Aristotle's  work  is  ranked  amongst  the  most 
admirable  natural  history  essays  ever  written.  It 
is,  moreover,  remarkable  for  its  anticipation. 

Dr.  Osborne,  in  1840,  read  to  the  Royal  Society  a 
short  analysis  of  this  work,  in  which  he  showed  that 
Aristotle  anticipated  Dr.  Jenner's  researches  respect- 
ing the  cuckoo ;  as  also  some  discoveries  respecting 
the  incubated  egg,  which  were  published  as  new  in 
the  above  year.  Aristotle  describes  the  economy  of 
bees  as  we  have  it  at  present ;  but  mistakes  the  sex 
of  the  queen.  The  various  organs  are  described  as 
modified  throughout  the  different  classes  of  animals 
(beginning  with  man)  in  nearly  the  same  order  as 
that  afterwards  adopted  by  Cuvier. 

The  chief  value  of  this  body  of  knowledge,  which 
has  been  buried  for  above  2,000  years,  is,  that  it  is 
a  collection  of  facts  observed  under  peculiar  advan- 
tages, such  as  never  since  occurred,  and  that  it  is  at 
the  present  day  to  be  consulted  for  new  discoveries. 

According  to  Pliny,  for  the  above  work  some 
thousands  of  men  were  placed  at  Aristotle's  dis- 
posal throughout  Greece  and  Asia,  comprising 
persons  connected  with  hunting  and  fishing,  or 
who  had  the  care  of  cattle,  fish-ponds,  and  apiaries, 
in  order  that  he  might  obtain  information  from  all 
quarters,  ne  quid  usquam  gentium  ignoretur  ab  eo. 
According  to  Athenseus,  Aristotle  received  from  the 
prince,  on  account  of  the  expenses  of  the  work, 
800  talents,  or  upwards  of  79,000/. 


FISH  IN  BBITISH  COLOMBIA. 


j|N  this  bitterly  cold  country,  where  the  snow 
lies  deep  six  months  out  of  the  twelve,  the 
natives  subsist  principally  on  fish,  of  which 
there  is  an  extraordinary  abundance  generally,  and 
of  salmon  particularly.  Salmon  swarm  in  such 
numbers  that  the  rivers  cannot  hold  them.  In  June 
and  July  every  rivulet,  no  matter  how  shallow,  is  so 
crammed  with  salmon  that,  from  sheer  want  of  room, 
they  push  one  another  high  and  dry  upon  the 
pebbles ;  and  Mr.  Lord  *  tells  us  that  each  salmon, 
with  its  head  up,  struggles,  fights,  and  scuffles  for 
precedence.  With  one's  hands  only,  or  more  easily 
by  employing  a  gaff  or  a  crook-stick,  tons  of 
salmon  have  been  procured  by  the  simple  process  of 
hooking  them  out.  Once  started  on  their  journey, 
the  salmon  never  turn  back.  As  fast  as  those  in 
front  die,  fresh  arrivals  crowd  on  to  take  their  places, 

*  "  The  Naturalist  in  Vancouver  Island  and  British 
Columbia."  By  John  Keast  Lord,  F.Z.S.,  Naturalist  to 
the  British  North  American  Boundary  Commission. 


282  FISH    IN    BRITISH    COLOMBIA. 

and  share  their  fate.  "  It  is  a  strange  and  novel 
sight  to  see  three  moving  lines  of  fish — the  dead  and 
dying  in  the  eddies  and  slack  water  along  the  bank, 
the  living  breasting  the  current  in  the  centre,  blindly 
pressing  on  to  perish  like  their  kindred."  For  two 
months  this  great  salmon  army  proceeds  on  its  way 
up  stream,  furnishing  a  supply  of  food  without 
which  the  Indians  must  perish  miserably.  The 
winters  are  too  severe  for  them  to  venture  out  in 
search  of  food,  even  if  there  was  any  to  be  obtained. 
From  being  destitute  of  salt,  they  are  unable  to  cure 
meat  in  the  summer  for  winter  provisions,  and  hence 
for  six  months  in  the  year  they  depend  upon  salmon, 
which  they  preserve  by  drying  in  the  sun. 

But  the  Indian  has  another  source  of  provision 
for  the  winter,  fully  as  important  as  the  salmon. 
The  Candle-fish  supplies  him  at  once  with  light, 
butter,  and  oil.*  When  dried,  and  perforated  with 
a  rush,  or  strip  of  cypress-bark,  it  can  be  lighted, 
and  burns  steadily  until  consumed.  Strung  up,  and 
hung  for  a  time  in  the  smoke  of  a  wood  fire,  it  is 
preserved  as  a  fatty  morsel  to  warm  him  when 
pinched  with  cold ;  and,  by  heat  and  pressure,  it  is 
easily  converted  into  liquid  oil,  and  drunk  with 
avidity.  That  nothing  may  be  wanting,  the  hollow 
stalk  of  the  sea-wrack,  which  at  the  root  is  expanded 
into  a  complete  flask,  makes  an  admirable  bottle; 
and  so,  when  the  Indian  buries  himself  for  long 
dreary  months  in  his  winter  quarters,  neither  his 

*  The  Petrel  is  similarly  used  in  the  Faroe  Islands.  (See 
ante,  p.  234.)  It  may,  therefore,  be  called  the  Candle  Bird. 


FISH    IN    BRITISH    COLOMBIA.  283 

larder  nor  his  cellar  are  empty,  and  he  has  a  lamp 
to  lighten  the  darkness.  The  steamers  have,  how- 
ever, frightened  away  the  Candle-fish  and  the  Indian 
from  their  old  haunts,  and  they  have  both  retreated 
to  the  north  of  the  Colombia  River. 

Amongst  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  salt  and 
fresh  waters  of  these  regions  are  the  Halibut  and 
the  Sturgeon,  both  of  which  attain  to  an  immense 
size.  The  bays  and  inlets  along  the  coast  abound 
with  marine  wonders.  There  feasts  and  fattens  the 
Clam,  a  bivalve  so  gigantic  that  no  oyster-knife  can 
force  an  entrance,  and  only  when  his  shell  is  almost 
red-hot  will  he  be  at  last  constrained  to  open  his 
dwelling. 

And  there  lies  in  wait  the  awful  Octopus,  a 
monster  of  insatiable  voracity,  of  untameable  fero- 
city, and  of  consummate  craft ;  of  sleepless  vigilance, 
shrouded  amidst  the  forest  of  sea-weed,  and  from 
the  touch  of  whose  terrible  arms  no  living  thing 
escapes.  It  attains  to  an  enormous  size  in  those 
seas,  the  arms  being  sometimes  five  feet  in  length, 
and  as  thick  at  the  base  as  a  man's  wrist.  No  bather 
would  have  a  chance  if  he  once  got  within  the  grasp 
of  such  a  monster,  nor  could  a  canoe  resist  the 
strength  of  its  pull ;  but  the  Indian,  who  devours 
the  Octopus  with  great  relish,  has  all  the  cunning 
created  by  necessity,  and  takes  care  that  none  of 
the  eight  sucker-dotted  arms  ever  gain  a  hold  on  his 
frail  bark. 

Professor  Owen  has  figured  a  species  of  Octopus, 
the  Eight-armed  Cuttle  of  the  European  seas,  repre. 


284  FISH    IN    BRITISH    COLOMBIA. 

senting  it  in  the  act  of  creeping  on  shore,  its  body 
being  carried  vertically  in  the  reverse  position,  with 
its  head  downwards,  and  its  back  being  turned 
towards  the  spectator,  upon  whom  it  is  supposed 
to  be  advancing.  This  animal  is  said  to  be 
luminous  in  the  dark.  Linnaeus  quotes  Bartholinus 
for  the  statement  that  one  gave  so  much  light  that 
when  the  candle  was  taken  away,  it  illuminated  the 
room. 

The  Sturgeon  is  one  of  the  finest  fishes  of  the 
country,  and  Mr.  Lord's  account  of  the  Indian  mode 
of  taking  them  is  a  very  graphic  picture  of  this  river 
sport. 

"The  spearman  stands  in  the  bow,  armed  with  a  most 
formidable  spear.  The  handle,  from  seventy  to  eighty  feet 
long,  is  made  of  white  pine-wood  ;  fitted  on  the  spear-haft  is 
a  barbed  point,  in  shape  very  much  like  a  shuttlecock,  sup- 
posing each  feather  represented  by  a  piece  of  bone,  thickly 
barbed,  and  very  sharp  at  the  end.  This  is  so  contrived  that 
it  can  be  easily  detached  from  the  long  handle  by  a  sharp, 
dexterous  jerk.  To  this  barbed  contrivance  a  long  line  is 
made  fast,  which  is  carefully  coiled  away  close  to  the  spear- 
man, like  a  harpoon-line  in  a  whale-boat.  The  four  canoes, 
alike  equipped,  are  paddled  into  the  centre  of  the  stream,  and 
side  by  side  drift  slowly  down  with  the  current,  each  spear- 
man carefully  feeling  along  the  bottom  with  his  spear,  con- 
stant practice  having  taught  the  crafty  savages  to  know  a 
Sturgeon's  back  when  the  spear  comes  in  contact  with  it. 
The  spear-head  touches  the  drowsy  fish  ;  a  sharp  plunge,  and 
the  redskin  sends  the  notched  points  through  armour  and 
cartilage,  deep  into  the  leather-like  muscles.  A  skilful  jerk 
frees  the  long  handle  from  the  barbed  end,  which  remains 
inextricably  fixed  in  the  fish  ;  the  handle  is  thrown  aside,  the 
line  seized,  and  the  struggle  begins.  The  first  impulse  is  to 


FISH   IN   BRITISH   COLOMBIA.  285 

resist  this  objectionable  intrusion,  so  the  angry  Sturgeon 
comes  up  to  see  what  it  all  means.  This  curiosity  is  generally 
repaid  by  having  a  second  spear  sent  crashing  into  him.  He 
then  takes  a  header,  seeking  safety  in  flight,  and  the  real 
excitement  commences.  With  might  and  main  the  bowman 
plies  the  paddle,  and  the  spearman  pays  out  the  line,  the 
canoe  flying  through  the  water.  The  slightest  tangle,  the 
least  hitch,  and  over  it  goes  ;  it  becomes,  in  fact,  a  sheer  trial 
of  paddle  versus  fin.  Twist  and  turn  as  the  Sturgeon  may, 
all  the  canoes  are  with  him.  He  flings  himself  out  of  the 
water,  dashes  through  it,  under  it,  and  skims  along  the 
surface  ;  but  all  is  in  vain,  the  canoes  and  their  dusky  oars- 
men follow  all  his  efforts  to  escape,  as  a  cat  follows  a  mouse. 
Gradually  the  Sturgeon  grows  sulky  and  tired,  obstinately 
floating  on  the  surface.  The  savage  knows  he  is  not  van- 
quished, but  only  biding  a  chance  for  revenge  ;  so  he  shortens 
up  the  line,  and  gathers  quietly  on  him  to  get  another  spear 
in.  It  is  done,— and  down  viciously  dives  the  Sturgeon  ;  but 
pain  and  weariness  begin  to  tell,  the  struggles  grow  weaker 
and  weaker  as  life  ebbs  slowly  away,  until  the  mighty 
armour-plated  monarch  of  the  river  yields  himself  a  captive 
to  the  dusky  native  in  his  frail  canoe." 

There  is  a  very  rare  Spoonbill  Sturgeon  found  in 
the  western  waters  of  North  America :  its  popular 
name  is  Paddle-fish.  One,  five  feet  in  length, 
weighed  forty  pounds  ;  the  nose,  resembling  a 
spatula,  was  thirteen  inches  in  length.  It  was  of 
a  light  slate  colour,  spotted  with  black ;  belly  white ; 
skin  smooth,  like  an  eel ;  the  flesh  compact  and  firm, 
and  hard  when  boiled — not  very  enticing  to  the 
epicure.  The  jaws  are  without  teeth,  but  the  fauces 
are  lined  with  several  tissues  of  the  most  beautiful 
network,  evidently  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  its 
food  from  the  water  by  straining,  or  passing  it 


286  FISH    IN    BRITISH    COLOMBIA. 

through  these  membranes  in  the  same  manner  as 
practised  by  the  spermaceti  whale.  Near  the  top 
of  the  head  are  two  small  holes,  through  which  it 
is  possible  the  Sturgeon  may  discharge  water  in 
the  manner  practised  by  cetaceous  animals.  It  is 
conjectured  that  the  long  "  Spoonbill "  nose  of  this 
fish  is  for  digging  up  or  moving  the  soft  mud  in 
the  bottom  of  the  river,  and  when  the  water  is  fully 
saturated,  draw  it  through  the  filamentory  strainers 
in  search  of  food. 

Sturgeons  resemble  sharks  in  their  general  form, 
but  their  bodies  are  defended  by  bony  shields,  dis- 
posed in  longitudinal  rows ;  and  their  head  is  also 
well  curiassed  externally.  The  Sturgeons  of  North 
America  are  of  little  benefit  to  the  natives.  A  few 
speared  in  the  summer-time  suffice  for  the  temporary 
support  of  some  Indian  hordes ;  but  none  are  pre- 
served for  winter  use,  and  the  roe  and  sounds  are 
utterly  wasted. 

The  northern  limit  of  the  Sturgeon  in  America  is 
probably  between  the  55th  and  56th  parallels  of 
latitude.  Dr.  Richardson  did  not  meet  with  any 
account  of  its  existence  to  the  north  of  Stewart's 
Lake,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains; 
and  on  the  east  side  it  does  not  go  higher  than  the 
Saskatchewan  and  its  tributaries.  It  is  not  found  in 
Churchill  River,  nor  in  any  of  the  branches  of  the 
Mackenzie  or  other  streams  that  fall  into  the  Arctic 
Seas — a  remarkable  circumstance  when  we  consider 
that  some  species  swarm  in  the  Asiatic  rivers  which 
flow  into  the  Icy  Sea.  Sturgeons  occur  in  all  the 


FISH    IN    BRITISH    COLOMBIA.  287 

great  lakes  communicating  with  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  also  along  the  whole  Atlantic  coast  of  the 
United  States  down  to  Florida.  Peculiar  species 
inhabit  the  Mississippi;  it  is,  therefore,  probable 
that  the  range  of  the  genus  extends  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico. 

The  great  rapid  which  forms  the  discharge  of  the 
Saskatchewan  into  Lake  Winnipeg  appears  quite 
alive  with  these  fish  in  the  month  of  June ;  and 
some  families  of  the  natives  resort  thither  at  that 
time  to  spear  them  with  a  harpoon,  or  grapple  them 
with  a  strong  hook  tied  to  a  pole.  Notwithstanding 
the  great  muscular  power  of  the  Sturgeon,  it  is 
timid ;  and  Dr.  Richardson  saw  one  so  frightened  at 
the  paddling  of  a  canoe,  that  it  ran  its  nose  into  a 
muddy  bank,  and  was  taken  by  a  voyageur,  who 
leaped  upon  its  back. 

In  Colombia  River,  a  small  species  of  Sturgeon 
attains  eleven  feet  in  length,  and  a  weight  of  six 
hundred  pounds.*  It  is  caught  as  high  up  as  Fort 
Colville,  notwithstanding  the  numerous  intervening 
cataracts-  and  rapids  which  seem  to  be  insuperable 
barriers  to  a  fish  so  sluggish  in  its  movements. 

The  Sturgeon  is  styled  a  Royal  Fish  in  England, 
because,  by  a  statute  of  Edward  II.  it  is  enacted, 
"  the  King  shall  have  Sturgeon  taken  in  the  sea,  or 
elsewhere,  within  the  realm." 


*  Dr.  Richardson.  The  Huro  is  reported  by  Pallas  to 
attain  a  weight  of  nearly  three  thousand  pounds,  and  a 
length  exceeding  thirty  feet. 


THE  TEEE-CLIMBING  CEAB. 


]HE  transition  from  the  ordinary  mode  of 
the  locomotion  of  fishes  by  swimming  to 
that  of  climbing  has  been  ably  illustrated 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Buckland,  who  showed,  in  a 
communication  to  the  Ashmolean  Society,  in  1843, 
that  the  fins  in  certain  genera  perform  the  func- 
tions of  feet  and  wings.  Thus,  "fishing-frogs" 
have  the  fins  converted  into  feet,  or  paddles,  by 
means  of  which  they  have  the  power  of  crawl- 
ing or  hopping  on  sand  and  mud ;  and  another 
species  can  live  three  days  out  of  the  water,  and 
walk  upon  dry  land.  The  climbing  perch  of  the 
Indian  rivers  is  known  to  live  a  long  time  in  the 
air,  and  to  climb  up  the  stems  of  palm-trees  in 
pursuit  of  flies,  by  means  of  spinous  projections  on 
its  gill-covers.  Fishes  of  the  silurus  family  have  a 
bony  enlargement  of  the  first  ray  of  the  pectoral 
fin,  which  is  also  armed  with  spines ;  and  this  is  not 
only  an  offensive  and  defensive  weapon,  but  enables 
the  fish  to  walk  along  the  bottom  of  the  fresh  waters 


THE    TRKK-CLIMi;iN(;    CRAB. 


THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB.  289 

which  it  inhabits.  The  flying-fishes  are  notorious 
examples  of  the  conversion  of  fins  into  an  organ  of 
movement  in  the  air.  M.  Deslongchamps  has  pub- 
lished, in  the  "  Transactions  of  the  Linnaean  Society 
of  Normandy,"  1842,  a  curious  account  of  the 
movements  of  the  gurnard  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 
In  1839,  he  observed  these  movements  in  one  of  the 
artificial  fishing-ponds,  or  fishing-traps,  surrounded 
by  nets,  on  the  shore  of  Normandy.  He  saw  a 
score  of  gurnards  closing  their  fins  against  their 
sides,  like  the  wing  of  a  fly  in  repose,  and  without 
any  movement  of  their  tails,  walking  along  the 
bottom  by  means  of  six  free  rays,  three  on  each 
pectoral  fin,  which  they  placed  successively  on  the 
ground.  They  moved  rapidly  forwards,  backwards, 
to  the  right  and  left,  groping  in  all  directions  with 
these  rays,  as  if  in  search  of  small  crabs.  Their 
great  heads  and  bodies  seemed  to  throw  hardly  any 
weight  on  the  slender  rays,  or  feet,  being  suspended 
in  water,  and  having  their  weight  further  diminished 
by  their  swimming-bladder.  During  these  move- 
ments the  gurnards  resembled  insects  moving  along 
the  sand.  When  M.  Deslongchamps  moved  in  the 
water,  the  fish  swam  away  rapidly  to  the  extremity 
of  the  pond ;  when  he  stood  still,  they  resumed 
their  ambulatory  movement,  and  came  between  his 
legs.  On  dissection,  we  find  these  three  anterior 
rays  of  the  pectoral  fins  to  be  supported  each  with 
strong  muscular  apparatus  to  direct  their  move- 
ments, apart  from  the  muscles  that  are  connected 
with  the  smaller  rays  of  the  pectoral  fin. 


290  THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB. 

Dr.  Buckland  states  that  Miss  Potts,  of  Chester, 
had  sent  to  him  a  flagstone  from  a  coalshaft  at 
Mostyn,  bearing  impressions  which  he  supposed  to 
be  the  trackway  of  some  fish  crawling  along  the 
bottom  by  means  of  the  anterior  rays  of  its  pectoral 
fins.  There  were  no  indications  of  feet,  but  only 
scratches,  symmetrically  disposed  on  each  side  of  a 
space  that  may  have  been  covered  by  the  body  of 
the  fish  whilst  making  progress,  by  pressing  its  fin- 
bones  on  the  bottom.  As  yet,  no  footsteps  of 
reptiles,  or  of  any  animals  more  highly  organized 
than  fishes,  have  been  found  in  strata  older  than 
those  which  belong  to  the  new  red  sandstone.  The 
abundant  remains  of  fossil  fishes,  armed  with  strong 
bony  spines,  and  of  other  fishes  allied  to  the  gurnard, 
in  strata  of  the  carboniferous  and  old  red  sandstone 
series,  would  lead  us  to  expect  the  frequent  occur- 
rence of  impressions  made  by  their  locomotive 
organs  on  the  bottoms  of  the  ancient  waters  in 
which  they  lived.  Dr.  Buckland  proposed  to  desig- 
nate these  petrified  traces  or  trackways  of  ancient 
fishes  by  the  term  of  fish- tracks. 

Crabs  and  Lobsters  are  strange  creatures  : 
strange  in  their  configurations ;  strange  in  the 
transmutations  which  they  exhibit  from  the  egg 
to  maturity;  strange  in  the  process  they  undergo 
of  casting  off,  not  only  their  shell,  but  the  cover- 
ing of  their  eyes,  of  their  long  horns,  and  even  the 
lining  of  their  tooth-furnished  stomach;  strange, 
also,  are  they  in  their  manners  and  habits.  Many  a 
reader,  in  wandering  along  the  sea-shore,  may  have 


THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB.  291 

disturbed  little  colonies  of  Crabs  quietly  nestling  in 
fancied  security  amidst  banks  of  slimy  sea-weed; 
and  in  the  nooks  and  recesses  of  the  coast,  the  shal- 
lows, and  strips  of  land  left  dry  at  ebb-tide,  may  be 
seen  numbers  of  little,  or  perchance  large,  Crabs, 
some  concealed  in  snug  lurking-places,  others  trip- 
ping, with  a  quick  side-long  movement,  over  the 
beach,  alarmed  by  the  advance  of  an  unwelcome  in- 
truder. Some  are  exclusively  tenants  of  the  water, 
have  feet  formed  like  paddles  for  swimming,  and 
never  venture  on  land ;  others  seem  to  love  the  air 
and  sunshine,  and  enjoy  an  excursion,  not  without 
hopes  of  finding  an  acceptable  repast,  over  the  oozy 
sands ;  some,  equally  fond  of  the  shore  and  shallow 
water,  appropriate  to  themselves  the  shells  of  peri- 
winkles, whelks,  &c.,  and  there  live  in  a  sort  of  castle, 
which  they  drag  about  with  them  on  their  excursions, 
changing  it  for  a  larger  as  they  increase  in  measure 
of  growth.  They  vary  in  size  from  microscopic 
animalcules  to  the  gigantic  King  Crab  :*  to  the 
former,  the  luminosity  of  the  ocean,  or  of  the  foam 

*  This  Crab  has  an  elongated  spine-like  tail,  the  use  of 
which,  was  long  misunderstood.  Dr.  J.  Gray  was  shown  at 
the  Liverpool  Museum  some  living  King  Crabs,  and  the  use 
they  made  of  the  tail-like  appendages.  When  turned  over  on 
their  backs,  he  saw  them  bend  down  the  tail  until  they  could 
reach  some  point  of  resistance,  and  then  employ  it  to  elevate 
the  body,  and  regain  their  normal  position.  Dr.  Gray  states 
that  they  never  have  been  seen  to  use  this  tail  for  the  purpose 
which  has  been  often  assigned  to  it — that  is,  for  leaping  from 
place  to  place  by  bending  it  under  the  body,  like  the  toy 
called  a  "  spring-jack,"  or  "  leaping  frog." 
T  2 


292  THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB. 

before  the  prows  of  vessels,  is,  to  a  great  extent, 
attributable,  each  minute  creature  glowing  with 
phosphoric  light. 

The  Bernhard  Crab  has  been  proved  to  have  the 
power  of  dissolving  shells,  it  not  being  unusual  to 
find  the  long  fusiform  shells  which  are  inhabited  by 
these  animals  with  the  inner  lip,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  pillar  on  the  inside  of  the  mouth,  de- 
stroyed, so  as  to  render  the  aperture  much  larger 
than  usual.  Dr.  Gray  is  quite  convinced  that  these 
Crabs  have  the  above  power,  some  to  a  much  greater 
degree  than  others. 

Certain  Crabs,  especially  in  the  West  Indies,  are 
almost  exclusively  terrestrial,  visiting  the  sea  only  at 
given  periods,  for  the  deposition  of  their  eggs. 
These  Crabs  carry  in  their  gill-chambers  sufficient 
water  for  the  purpose  of  respiration ;  they  live  in 
burrows,  and  traverse  considerable  tracts  of  land  in 
the  performance  of  their  migratory  journeys.  Of 
these,  some,  as  the  Yiolet  Crab,  are  exquisite  deli- 
cacies. 

Of  a  great  Crab  migration  we  find  these  details  in 
the  "  Jamaica  Eoyal  Gazette :  "—In  1811  there 
was  a  very  extraordinary  production  of  Black  Crabs 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Jamaica.  In  June  or  July 
the  whole  district  of  Manchidneed  was  covered  with 
countless  numbers,  swarming  from  the  sea  to  the 
mountains.  Of  this  the  writer  was  an  eye-witness. 
On  ascending  Over  Hill  from  the  vale  of  Plantain 
Garden  River,  the  road  appeared  of  a  reddish  colour, 
as  if  strewed  with  brick-dust.  It  was  owing  to 

/ 


THE  TREE-CLIMBING  CRAB.  293 

myriads  of  young  Black  Crabs,  about  the  size  of  the 
nail  of  a  man's  finger,  moving  at  a  pretty  quick 
pace,  direct  for  the  mountains.  "  I  rode  along  the 
coast,"  says  the  writer,  "  a  distance  of  about  fifteen 
miles,  and  found  it  nearly  the  same  the  whole  way. 
Keturning  the  following  day,  I  found  the  road  still 
covered  with  them,  the  same  as  the  day  before. 
How  have  they  been  produced,  and  where  do  they 
come  from?  were  questions  everybody  asked,  and 
nobody  could  answer.  It  is  well  known  that  Crabs 
deposit  their  eggs  once  a  year,  in  May ;  but,  except 
on  this  occasion,  though  living  on  the  coast,  I  had 
never  seen  above  a  dozen  young  Crabs  together; 
and  here  were  myriads.  No  unusual  number  of  old 
Crabs  had  been  observed  in  that  season ;  and  it  is 
worthy  of  note,  that  they  were  moving  from  a  rock- 
bound  coast  of  inaccessible  cliffs,  the  abode  of  sea- 
birds,  and  exposed  to  the  constant  influence  of  the 
trade  winds.  No  person,  as  far  as  I  know,  ever 
saw  the  like,  except  on  that  occasion ;  and  I  have 
understood  that  since  1811  Black  Crabs  have  been 
more  abundant  further  in  to  the  interior  of  the  island 
than  they  were  ever  known  before." 

Cuvier  describes  the  Burrowing  Crab  as  displaying 
wonderful  instinct : — "  The  animal  closes  the  en- 
trance of  its  burrow,  which  is  situated  near  the 
margin  of  the  sea,  or  in  marshy  grounds,  with  its 
largest  claw.  These  burrows  are  cylindrical,  oblique, 
very  deep,  and  very  close  to  each  other ;  but  gene- 
rally each  burrow  is  the  exclusive  habitation  of  a 
single  individual.  The  habit  which  these  crabs  have 


294  THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB. 

of  holding  their  large  claw  elevated  in  advance  of 
the  body,  as  if  making  a  sign  of  beckoning  to  some 
one,  has  obtained  for  them  the  name  of  Calling  Crabs. 
There  is  a  species  observed  by  Mr.  Bosc  in  South 
Carolina,  which  passes  the  three  months  of  the 
winter  in  its  retreat  without  once  quitting  it,  and 
which  never  goes  to  the  sea  except  at  the  epoch  of 
egg-laying."  The  same  observations  apply  to  the 
Chevalier  Crabs  (so  called  from  the  celerity  with 
which  they  traverse  the  ground).  These  are  found 
in  Africa,  and  along  the  borders  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

Some  Crabs,  truly  aquatic,  as  the  Vaulted  Crab  of 
the  Moluccas,  have  the  power  of  drawing  back  their 
limbs,  and  concealing  them  in  a  furrow,  which  they 
closely  fit ;  and  thus,  in  imitation  of  a  tortoise,  which 
retracts  its  feet  and  head  within  its  shell,  they 
secure  themselves,  when  alarmed.  Other  aquatic 
species  have  their  limbs  adapted  for  clinging  to 
weeds  and  other  marine  objects.  Of  these  some  have 
the  two  or  four  hind  pairs  of  limbs  so  placed  as  to 
appear  to  spring  from  the  back ;  they  terminate  in 
a  sharp  hook,  by  means  of  which  the  Crab  attaches 
itself  to  the  valves  of  shells,  fragments  of  coral,  &o., 
which  it  draws  over  its  body,  and  thus  lurks  in  con- 
cealment. Allied,  in  some  respects,  to  the  Hermit  or 
Soldier  Crabs,  which  tenant  empty  shells,  is  one 
which,  from  its  manners  and  habits,  is  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  of  its  race.  The  Hermit  Crabs 
are  voracious,  and  feed  on  animal  substances.  The 
Hermit,  or  Bernhard  Crab,  is  so  called  from  its 


THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB.  295 

habit  of  taking  up  its  solitary  residence  in  deserted 
shells,  thus  seeking  a  protection  for  its  tail,  which  is 
long  and  naked.  It  is  found  in  shells  of  different 
dimensions,  and  from  time  to  time  leaves  its  abode, 
as  it  feels  a  necessity,  for  a  more  commodious  dwell- 
ing. It  is  said  to  present,  on  such  occasions,  an 
amusing  instinct  as  it  inserts  the  tail  successively 
into  several  empty  shells  until  one  is  found  to  fit. 
We  learn  from  Professor  Bell,  however,  that  it  does 
not  always  wait  until  the  home  is  vacant,  but  occa- 
sionally rejects  the  rightful  occupant  with  some 
violence.  On  the  contrary,  the  Crab,  or  rather 
Lobster- Crab  (for  it  takes  an  intermediate  place  be- 
tween them),  is  more  delicate  in  its  appetite,  and 
feeds  upon  fruits,  to  obtain  which  it  is  said  to  climb 
up  certain  trees,  at  the  feet  of  which  it  makes  a 
burrow.  This  species  is  the  Purse  Crab,  or  Robber 
Crab,  of  Amboyna  and  other  islands  in  the  South 
Pacific  Ocean. 

"  According  to  popular  belief  among  the  Indians," 
says  Cuvier,  "  the  Robber  Crab  feeds  on  the  nuts  of 
the  cocoa-tree,  and  it  makes  its  excursions  during 
the  night;  its  places  of  retreat  are  fissures  in  the 
rocks,  or  holes  in  the  ground."  The  accounts  of  the 
early  writers  and  travellers,  as  well  as  of  the  natives, 
were  disbelieved;  but  their  truth  has  since  been 
abundantly  confirmed.  MM.  Quoy  and  Guimard 
assure  us  that  several  Robber  Crabs  were  fed  by 
them  for  many  months  on  cocoa-nuts  alone ;  and  a 
specimen  of  this  Crab  was  submitted  to  the  Zoo- 
logical Society,  with  additional  information  from 


296  THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB. 

Mr.  Cuming,  in  whose  fine  collection  from  the 
islands  of  the  South  Pacific  several  specimens  were 
preserved.  Mr.  Cuming  states  these  Crabs  to  be 
found  in  great  numbers  in  Lord  Hood's  Island,  in 
the  Pacific.  He  there  frequently  met  with  them  on 
the  road.  On  being  disturbed,  the  Crabs  instantly 
assumed  a  defensive  attitude,  making  a  loud  snap- 
ping with  their  powerful  claws,  or  pincers,  which 
continued  as  they  retreated  backwards.  They  climb 
a  species  of  palm  to  gather  a  small  kind  of  cocoa- 
nut  that  grows  thereon.  They  live  at  che  roots  of 
trees,  and  not  in  the  holes  of  rocks ;  and  they  form 
a  favourite  food  among  the  natives.  Such  is  the 
substance  of  Mr.  Cuming's  account.  Mr.  Darwin, 
in  his  "  Researches  in  Geology  and  Natural  His- 
tory," saw  several  of  these  Crabs  in  the  Keeling 
Islands,  or  Cocos  Islands,  in  the  Indian  Ocean, 
about  600  miles  distant  from  the  coast  of  Sumatra. 
In  these  islands,  of  coral  formation,  the  cocoa-nut 
tree  is  so  abundant  as  to  appear,  at  first  glance,  to 
compose  the  whole  wood  of  the  islands. 

Here  the  great  Purse  Crab  is  abundant.  Mr. 
Darwin  describes  it  as  a  Crab  which  lives  on  the 
cocoa-nut,  is  common  on  all  parts  of  the  dry  land,  and 
grows  to  a  monstrous  size.  This  Crab  has  its  front 
pair  of  legs  terminated  by  very  strong  and  heavy 
pincers,  and  the  last  pair  by  others  which  are  narrow 
and  weak.  It  would  at  first  be  thought  quite  impos- 
sible for  a  Crab  to  open  a  strong  cocoa-nut,  covered 
with  the  husk ;  but  Mr.  Liesk  assures  me  that  he  has 
repeatedly  seen  the  operation  effected.  The  Crab 


THE    TREE-CLIMBING   CRAB.  297 

begins  by  tearing  away  the  husk,  fibre  by  fibre,  and 
always  from  that  end  under  which  the  three  eye-holes 
are  situated.  When  this  is  completed  the  Crab  com- 
mences hammering  with  its  heavy  claws  on  one  of 
these  eye-holes  till  an  opening  is  made.  Then,  turn- 
ing its  body,  by  the  aid  of  its  posterior  and  narrow 
pair  of  pincers,  it  extracts  the  white  albuminous  sub- 
stance. I  think  this  as  curious  a  case  as  I  ever 
heard  of,  and  likewise  of  adaptation  in  structure  be- 
tween two  objects  apparently  so  remote  from  each 
other  in  the  scheme  of  nature  as  a  Crab  and  a  cocoa- 
nut  tree.  The  Crab  is  diurnal  in  its  habits ;  but  it 
is  said  to  pay  every  night  a  visit  to  the  sea  for  the 
purpose  of  moistening  its  gills.  These  gills  are  very 
peculiar,  and  scarcely  fill  up  more  than  a  tenth  of 
the  chamber  in  which  they  are  placed :  it  doubtless 
acts  as  a  reservoir  for  water,  to  serve  the  Crab  in  its 
passage  over  the  dry  and  heated  land.  The  young 
are  hatched  and  live  for  some  time  on  the  coast ;  at 
this  period  of  existence  we  cannot  suppose  that 
cocoa-nuts  form  any  part  of  their  diet ;  most  prob- 
ably soft  saccharine  grasses,  fruits,  and  certain  animal 
matters,  serve  as  their  food  until  they  attain  a  certain 
size  and  strength. 

The  adult  Crabs,  Mr.  Darwin  tells  us,  inhabit 
deep  burrows,  which  they  excavate  beneath  the  roots 
of  trees ;  and  here  they  accumulate  great  quantities 
of  the  picked  fibres  of  the  cocoa-nut  husk,  on  which 
they  rest  as  on  a  bed.  The  Malays  sometimes  take 
advantage  of  the  labours  of  the  Crab  by  collecting 
the  coarse  fibrous  substance,  and  using  it  as  junk. 


298  THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB. 

These  Crabs  are  very  good  to  eat ;  moreover,  under 
the  tail  of  the  larger  ones  there  is  a  great  mass  of 
fat,  which,  when  melted,  yields  as  much  as  a  quart 
bottleful  of  limpid  oil. 

The  Crab's  means  of  obtaining  the  cocoa-nuts 
have,  however,  been  much  disputed.  It  is  stated  by 
some  authors  to  crawl  up  the  trees  for  the  purpose 
of  stealing  the  nuts.  This  is  doubted;  though  in 
the  kind  of  palm  to  which  Mr.  Cuming  refers  as 
being  ascended  by  this  Crab,  the  task  would  be  much 
easier.  Now,  Mr.  Darwin  states,  that  in  the  Keeling 
Islands  the  Crab  lives  only  on  the  nuts  which  fall  to 
the  ground.  It  may  thus  appear  that  Mr.  Cuming's 
and  Mr.  Darwin's  respective  accounts  of  the  non- 
climbing  of  this  Crab  on  the  one  side,  and  its  actually 
climbing  trees  on  the  other,  are  contradictory.  The 
height  of  the  stem  of  the  cocoa-nut  tree,  its  circum- 
ference, and  comparative  external  smoothness,  would 
prove  insurmountable,  or  at  least  very  serious  ob- 
stacles, to  the  most  greedy  Crab,  however  large  and 
strong  it  might  be.  But  these  difficulties  are  by  no 
means  so  formidable  in  the  tree  specified  by  Mr. 
Cuming :  this  is  arborescent,  or  bushy,  with  long, 
thin,  rigid,  sword-shaped  leaves,  resembling  those  of 
the  pineapple,  usually  arranged  spirally,  so  that  they 
are  commonly  called  Screw  Pines.  They  are  of  the 
genus  Pandanus,  a  word  derived  from  the  Malay 
Pandang.  The  ascent  of  these  arborescent  plants, 
having  the  stem  furnished  with  a  rigging  of  cord- 
like  roots,  and  bearing  a  multitude  of  firm,  long, 
and  spirally-arranged  leaves,  would  be  by  no  means 


THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB.  299 

a  work  of  difficulty,  as  would  necessarily  be  that  of 
the  tall  feathery-topped  cocoa-tree,  destitute  of  all 
available  points  of  aid  or  support.  Hence  the  con- 
tradiction in  the  two  accounts  referred  to  is  seeming, 
and  not  real,  and  the  two  statements  are  reconciled. 

To  sum  up,  Mr.  Cuming  fully  testifies  to  the 
Crab  climbing  the  Screw  Pines ;  and  he  has  told 
Professor  Owen  that  he  has  actually  seen  the  Crab 
climbing  the  cocoa-nut  tree.  The  Crab  has  been 
kept  on  cocoa-nuts  for  months ;  and  is  universally 
reported  by  the  natives  to  climb  the  trees  at  night. 

We  may  here,  too,  observe,  that  fine  specimens 
of  the  Climbing  Crab  are  to  be  seen  in  the  British 
Museum.  Here,  too,  arranged  in  cases,  are  Spider 
Crabs  ;  Crabs  with  oysters  growing  on  their 
backs,  thus  showing  that  Crabs  do  not  shed  their 
shells  every  year,  or  that  the  oyster  increases  very 
rapidly  in  bulk ;  Oval-bodied  Crabs ;  and  Fin-footed 
or  Swimming  Crabs.  Here  are  also  Telescope,  or 
Long-eyed  Crabs,  and  Land  Crabs,  found  in  India 
4,000  feet  above  the  sea-level;  another  of  similar 
habits  in  the  plains  of  the  Deccan,  that  may  be  seen 
swarming  in  the  fields,  some  cutting  and  nipping  the 
green  rice-stalks,  and  others  waddling  off  backwards 
with  sheaves  bigger  than  themselves.  To  these  may 
be  added  Square-bodied  Crabs,  Crested  Crabs ;  Porce- 
lain Crabs,  with  delicate,  china-like  shells;  and 
Death's-head  Crabs,  which  usually  form  cases  for 
themselves  from  pieces  of  sponge  and  shells. 

Certain  species  of  Crabs  are  remarkably  tenacious 
of  life,  and  have  been  known  to  live  for  weeks 


300  THE   TKEE-CL1MBING   CRAB. 

buried,  and  without  food.  It  is  in  the  Crab  tribe 
that  the  fact  of  the  metamorphosis  of  Crustacea  has 
been  most  distinctly  perceived;  a  small,  peculiar 
crustacean  animal,  that  had  long  passed  for  a  dis- 
tinct species,  under  the  name  of  Zoea,  having  at 
length  been  identified  with  the  young  of  the  common 
Crab  before  it  had  attained  its  full  development. 

That  among  the  Crab  tribes  a  tree-climbing  species 
is  to  be  found  is  certainly  curious,  but  it  is  not 
without  a  parallel  among  fishes.  Many  of  the  latter 
lea  ye  the  water,  some  even  for  a  long  time,  and 
perform  overland  journeys,  aided  in  their  progress 
by  the  structure  of  their  fins.  In  these  fishes  the 
gills  and  gill-chambers  are  constructed  for  the  reten- 
tion of  water  for  a  considerable  time,  so  as  to  suffice 
for  the  necessary  degree  of  respiration.  In  our 
country,  we  may  mention  the  eel,  which  often 
voluntarily  quits  the  river  or  lake,  and  wanders 
during  the  night  over  the  adjacent  meadows,  proba- 
bly in  quest  of  dew- worms.  But  the  marshes  of 
India  and  China  present  us  with  fishes  much  more 
decidedly  terrestrial,  and  some  of  which  were  known 
to  the  ancients.  Among  these  are  several  fishes  of  a 
snake-like  form  :  they  have  an  elongated,  cylindrical 
body,  and  creep  on  land  to  great  distances  from  their 
native  waters.  The  boatmen  of  India  often  keep 
these  fishes  for  a  long  time  out  of  water,  for  the 
sake  of  diverting  themselves  and  others  by  their 
terrestrial  movements,  and  children  may  often  be 
seen  enjoying  this  sport. 

Of  these  land-haunting  fishes,  the  most  remarkable 


THE   TREE-CLIMBING   CRAB.  301 

is  the  tree-climber,  so  called  in  Tranquebar.  This 
fish  inhabits  India,  the  Indian  islands,  and  various 
parts  of  China,  as  Chusan,  &c.,  living  in  marshes, 
and  feeding  on  aquatic  insects,  worms,  &c.  Accord- 
ing to  Daldorf,  a  Danish  gentleman,  who,  in  1797, 
communicated  an  account  of  the  habits  of  this  fish 
to  the  Linnsean  Society,  it  mounts  up  the  bushes  or 
low  palms  to  some  elevation.  This  gentleman  states 
that  he  had  himself  observed  it  in  the  act  of  ascend- 
ing palm-trees  near  the  marshes,  and  had  taken  it  at 
a  height  of  no  less  than  five  feet,  measured  from  the 
level  of  the  adjacent  water.  It  effects  its  ascent  by 
means  of  its  pectoral  and  under  fins,  aided  by  the 
action  of  the  tail  and  the  spines  which  border  the 
gill  covers.  It  is  by  the  same  agency  that  it  traverses 
the  land.  The  statement  of  M.  Daldorf  is  corrobo- 
rated by  M.  John,  also  a  Danish  observer,  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  the  knowledge  of  its  name  in 
Tranquebar,  which  alludes  to  its  arboreal  pro- 
ceedings. 

It  is  true  that  many  other  naturalists  who  have 
observed  the  habits  of  this  fish  in  its  native  regions, 
while  they  concur  in  describing  its  terrestrial 
journeys,  and  its  living  for  a  long  time  out  of  water, 
either  omit  to  mention,  or  mention  with  doubt,  its 
reputed  attempts  at  tree-climbing. 

The  habits  and  instincts  of  certain  Crawfishes  are 
very  extraordinary.  Thus,  the  Astaci  are  migratory, 
and  in  their  travels  are  capable  of  doing  much 
damage  to  dams  and  embankments.  On  the  Little 
Genesee  E/iver  they  have,  within  a  few  years,  com- 


302  THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB. 

pelled  the  owner  of  a  dam  to  rebuild  it.  The  former 
dam  was  built  after  the  manner  of  dykes,  i.e.9  with 
upright  posts,  supporting  sleepers,  laid  inclining  up 
the  stream.  On  these  were  laid  planks,  and  the 
planks  were  covered  with  dirt.  The  Astacus  pro- 
ceeding up  the  stream  would  burrow  under  the 
planks  where  they  rested  on  the  bottom  of  the 
stream,  removing  bushels  of  dirt  and  gravel  in  the 
course  of  a  night.  They  travel  over  the  dam  in 
their  migrations,  often  climbing  posts  two  or  three 
feet  high  to  gain  the  pond  above.1* 

We  have  to  add  a  new  and  eccentric  variety  of 
nature — the  Pill-making  Crab,  which  abounds  at 
Labuan,  Singapore,  and  Lahore,  and  is  described  in 
Mr.  Collingwood's  "Rambles  of  a  Naturalist." 
"When  the  tide  is  down,  this  little  creature,  if 
stealthily  watched,  may  be  seen  creeping  up  a  hole 
in  the  sandy  shore,  taking  up  rapidly  particles  of 
the  loose  powdery  sand  in  its  claws,  and  depositing 
them  in  a  groove  beneath  the  thorax.  A  little  ball 
of  sand,  about  the  size  of  a  filbert,  is  forthwith  pro- 
jected, though  whether  it  passes  actually  through 
the  mouth  is  not  made  clear.  Pill  after  pill  is  seized 
with  one  claw,  and  laid  aside,  until  the  beach  is 
covered  with  these  queer  little  pellets.  This  is 
evidently  the  creature's  mode  of  extracting  particles 
of  food  from  the  sand. 

Mr.  Collingwood  also  describes,  as  met  with  on 
the  shores  and  waters  of  the  China  seas,  Glass  Crabs, 
whose  flat,  transparent,  leaf-like  bodies  seem  made 
*  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Art. 


THE    TREE-CLIMBING    CRAB.  303 

of  fine  plates  of  mica.  The  dredge  brings  up  many 
a  rich  haul  of  sponges,  corals,  and  gorgoniae,  of  the 
most  splendid  colours,  certain  of  the  sponges  har- 
bouring within  their  cells  minute  crabs  of  a  new 
genus.  Between  Aden  and  Galle  the  sea  is  of  a 
pinkish  colour,  owing  to  the  immense  accumulation 
of  minute  kinds  of  medusse,  in  solid  masses  of  red 
jelly.  Over  Fiery  Cross  Reef,  the  mirror-like  sea 
reveals,  at  the  depth  of  sixty  or  seventy  feet,  this 
wealth  of  natural  treasures.  "  Glorious  masses  of 
living  coral  strew  the  bottom  :  immense  globular 
madrepores — vast  overhanging  mushroom-shaped  ex- 
pansions, complicated  ramifications  of  interweaving 
branches,  mingled  with  smaller  and  more  delicate 
species — round,  finger-shaped,  horn-like  and  um- 
brella-form— lie  in  wondrous  confusion.  Here  and 
there  is  a  large  clam-shell,  wedged  in  between  masses 
of  coral,  the  gaping,  zigzag  mouth  covered  with  the 
projecting  mantle  of  the  deepest  Prussian  blue ;  beds 
of  dark  purple,  long-spined  Echini,  and  the  thick 
black  bodies  of  sea-cucumbers  vary  the  aspect  of  the 
sea  bottom."  * 


*  W.  C.  Linnaeus  Martin,  F.L.S. 


MUSICAL  LIZAKDS. 


SMALL  Lizard,  lately  brought  home  from 
the  Isle  of  Formosa  by  Mr.  Swinhoe,  is  de- 
cided to  be  a  new  species  by  Dr.  Giinther, 
of  the  British  Museum.  Mr.  Swinhoe  found  the  eggs 
of  this  Gecko,  or  Lizard,  in  holes  of  walls  or  among 
mortar  rubbish.  They  are  round,  and  usually  lie 
several  together,  resembling  eggs  of  ordinary  Lizards. 
The  young,  when  first  hatched,  keep  much  under 
stones  in  dark  cellars,  where  they  remain  until  they 
attain  about  two-thirds  of  the  adult  size,  when  they 
begin  to  appear  in  public  to  catch  insects,  but 
evincing  great  shyness  of  their  seniors.  Mr.  Swin- 
hoe states  that  on  the  plaster-washed  sides  of  his 
bedroom,  close  to  the  angle  of  the  roof,  every 
evening  when  the  lamp  was  placed  on  the  table 
below,  four  little  Musical  Lizards  used  to  make  their 
appearance  and  watch  patiently  for  insects  attracted 
by  the  light.  A  sphinx  or  a  beetle  buzzing  into  the 
room  would  put  them  into  great  excitement,  and 
they  would  run  with  celerity  from  one  part  of  the 


MUSICAL    LIZARDS.  305 

wall  to  the  other  after  the  deluded  insect  as  it 
fluttered  in  vain,  buffeting  its  head,  up  and  down, 
the  wall.  Two  or  three  would  run  after  the  same 
insect,  but  as  soon  as  one  had  succeeded  in  securing 
it,  the  rest  would  prudently  draw  aloof.  In  running 
over  the  perpendicular  face  of  the  wall  they  keep  so 
close,  and  their  movements  are  made  so  quickly, 
with  one  leg  in  advance  of  the  other,  that  they  have 
the  appearance  at  a  distance  of  gliding  rather  than 
running.  The  tail  is  somewhat  writhed  as  the  body 
is  jerked  along,  and  much  so  when  the  animal  is 
alarmed  and  doing  its  utmost  to  escape ;  but  its  pro- 
gress even  then  is  in  short  runs,  stopping  at  inter- 
vals and  raising  its  head  to  look  about.  If  a  fly 
perch  on  the  wall  it  cautiously  approaches  to  within 
a  short  distance,  then  suddenly  darts  forwards,  and 
with  its  quickly-protruded,  glutinous  tongue,  fixes 
it.  Apart  from  watching  its  curious  manoeuvres 
after  its  insect-food,  the  attention  of  the  most  list- 
less would  be  attracted  by  the  singular  series  of 
loud  notes  these  creatures  utter  at  all  hours  of  the 
day  and  night,  more  especially  during  cloudy  and 
rainy  weather.  These  notes  resemble  the  syllables 
"chuck-chuck,"  several  times  repeated;  and,  from 
their  more  frequent  occurrence  during  July  and 
August,  they  are  thought  to  be  the  call  notes  of  the 
male  to  the  female. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  the  little 
creature  lies  quiescent  in  some  cranny  among  the 
beams  of  the  roof  or  in  the  wall  of  the  house,  where, 
however,  it  is  ever  watchful  for  the  incautious  fly 

u 


306  MUSICAL    LIZARDS. 

that  approaches  its  den,  upon  whom  it  darts  forth 
with  but  little  notice.  But  it  is  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  the  habitations  of  men.  Every  old  wall, 
and  almost  every  tree,  possesses  a  tenant  or  two  of 
this  species.  It  is  excessively  lively,  and  even  when 
found  quietly  ensconced  in  a  hole,  generally  manages 
to  escape — its  glittering  little  eyes  (black,  with 
yellow  ochre  iris)  appearing  to  know  no  sleep  ;  and 
an  attempt  to  capture  the  runaway  seldom  results  in 
more  than  the  seizure  of  an  animated  tail,  wrenched 
off  with  a  jerk  by  the  little  fellow  as  it  slips  away, 
without  loss  of  blood.  The  younger  individuals  are 
much  darker  than  the  larger  and  older  animals, 
which  are  sometimes  almost  albinoes.  In  ordinary 
fly-catching  habits,  as  they  stick  to  the  sides  of  a 
lamp,  there  is  much  similarity  between  this  gecko 
and  the  little  papehoo,  or  wall-lizard  of  China ;  but 
this  is  decidedly  a  larger  and  much  more  active 
animal,  and  often  engages  in  a  struggle  with  insects 
of  very  large  size.  The  Chinese  colonists  of  For- 
mosa greatly  respect  the  geckos,  in  consequence  of 
a  legend  which  attributes  to  them  the  honour  of 
having  once  poisoned  the  supplies  of  an  invading 
rebellious  army,  which  was  thereby  totally  cut  to 
pieces.  The  geckos  were  raised  to  the  rank  of 
generals  by  the  grateful  Emperor  of  China ;  which 
honour,  the  legend  states,  they  greatly  appreciated, 
and  henceforth  devoted  their  energies  to  the  exter- 
mination of  mosquitoes  and  other  injurious  insects. 


CHAMELEONS,  AND  THEIE  CHANGES. 

"  Nil  fuit  unquam 
Sic  impar  sibi." — Horat. 

"  Sure  such  a  various  creature  ne'er  was  seen." 

Francis,  in  imit. 

]HE  Chameleon  tribe  is  a  well-defined  family 
of  lizard-like  reptiles,  whose  characters  may 
be  summed  up  as  existing  in  the  form  of 
their  feet ;  the  toes,  which  are  joined  together  or 
bound  up  together  in  two  packets  or  bundles,  op- 
posed to  each  other ;  in  their  shagreen-like  skin ; 
in  their  prehensile  tail ;  and  in  their  extensile 
and  retractile  vermiform  tongue. 

That  the  Chameleon  was  known  to  the  ancients 
there  is  no  doubt.  Its  name  we  derive  directly  from 
the  Chamelceo  of  the  Latins.  Aristotle's  history  of 
the  animal  proves  the  acute  observation  of  that  great 
zoologist — the  absence  of  a  sternum,  the  disposition 
of  the  ribs,  the  mechanism  of  the  tail,  the  motion  of 
the  eyes,  the  toes  bound  up  in  opposable  bundles, 
&c. — though  he  is  not  entirely  correct  on  some 
u  2 


308  CHAMELEONS,    AND   THEIR   CHANGES. 

points.    Pliny  mentions  it,  but  his  account  is  for  the 
most  part  a  compilation  from  Aristotle. 

CalmetV description  of  the  Chameleon  is  curiously 
minute  : — "  It  has  four  feet,  and  on  each  foot  three 
claws.  Its  tail  is  long  :  with  this,  as  well  as  with 
his  feet,  it  fastens  itself  to  the  branches  of  trees. 
Its  tail  is  flat,  its  nose  long,  ending  in  an  obtuse 
point ;  its  back  is  sharp,  its  skin  plaited,  and  jagged 
like  a  saw,  from  the  neck  to  the  last  joint  of  the 
tail,  and  upon  its  head  it  has  something  like  a  comb ; 
like  a  fish,  it  has  no  neck.  Some  have  asserted  that 
it  lives  only  upon  air,  but  it  has  been  observed  to 
feed  on  flies,  catched  with  its  tongue,  which  is  about 
ten  inches  long  and  three  thick,  made  of  white  flesh, 
round,  but  flat  at  the  end,  or  hollow  and  open,  re- 
sembling an  elephant's  trunk.  It  also  shrinks,  and 
grows  longer.  This  animal  is  said  to  assume  the 
colour  of  those  things  to  which  it  is  applied ;  but 
our  modern  observers  assure  us  that  its  natural 
colour,  when  at  rest,  and  in  the  shade,  is  a  bluish- 
grey;  though  some  are  yellow,  others  green,  but 
both  of  a  smaller  kind.  When  it  is  exposed  to  the 
sun,  the  grey  changes  into  a  darker  grey,  inclining 
to  a  dun  colour,  and  its  parts  which  have  least  of  the 
light  upon  them  are  changed  into  spots  of  different 
colours.  Sometimes,  when  it  is  handled,  it  seems 
speckled  with  dark  spots,  inclining  to  green.  If  it 
be  put  upon  a  black  hat,  it  appears  to  be  of  a  violet 
colour ;  and  sometimes,  if  it  be  wrapped  up  in  linen, 
it  is  white  ;  but  it  changes  colour  only  in  some  parts 
of  the  body." 


CHAMELEONS,    AND   THEIR   CHANGES.  309 

Its  changes  of  colour  have  been  commemorated  by 
the  poets.  Shakspeare  has— 

<e  I  can  add  colours  ev'n  to  the  Chameleon  : 
Change  shapes  with  Proteus,  for  advantage." 

Dryden  has — 

t(  The  thin  Chameleon,  fed  with  air,  receives 
The  colour  of  the  thing  to  which  it  cleaves." 

Prior  has — 

"  As  the  Chameleon,  which  is  known 
To  have  no  colours  of  his  own, 
But  borrows  from  his  neighbour's  hue 
His  white  or  black,  his  green  or  blue." 

Gay,  in  his  charming  fable  of  the  Spaniel  and  the 
Chameleon,  "  scarce  distinguished  from  the  green," 
makes  the  latter  thus  reply  to  the  taunts  of  the  pam- 
pered spaniel : — 

"  '  Sir,'  says  the  sycophant,  '  like  you, 
Of  old,  politer  life  I  knew  : 
Like  you,  a  courtier  born  and  bred, 
Kings  lean'd  their  ear  to  what  I  said  : 
My  whisper  always  met  success ; 
The  ladies  prais'd  me  for  address  ; 
I  knew  to  hit  each  courtier's  passion, 
And  flatter' d  every  vice  in  fashion  : 
But  Jove,  who  hates  the  liar's  ways, 
At  once  cut  short  my  prosperous  days, 
And,  sentenced  to  retain  my  nature, 
Transform' d  me  to  this  crawling  creature. 
Doom'd  to  a  life  obscure  and  mean, 
I  wander'd  in  the  silvan  scene  : 
For  Jove  the  heart  alone  regards  ; 
He  punishes  what  man  rewards. 


310  CHAMELEONS,    AND    THEIR    CHANGES. 

How  different  is  thy  case  and  mine  ! 
With  men  at  least  you  sup  and  dine  ; 
While  I,  condemned  to  thinnest  fare, 
Like  those  I  flatter' d,  fed  on  air.'  " 

Upon  this  fable  a  commentator  acutely  notes  : — 
"  The  raillery  at  court  sycophants  naturally  pervades 
our  poet's  writings,  who  had  suffered  so  much  from 
them.  Here,  however,  he  intimates  something  more, 
namely,  the  apposite  dispensations  to  man's  acts, 
even  in  this  world.  The  crafty  is  taken  in  by  his 
own  guile,  the  courtier  falls  by  his  own  arts,  and  the 
ladder  of  ambition  only  prepares  for  the  aspirant  a 
further  fall."  * 

With  respect  to  the  air-food  of  the  Chameleon, 
Cuvier  observes  that  its  lung  is  so  large  that,  when 
it  is  filled  with  air,  it  imparts  a  transparency  to  the 
body,  which  made  the  ancients  say  that  it  lived  upon 
air;  and  he  inclines  to  think  that  to  its  size  the 
Chameleon  owes  the  property  of  changing  its  colour ; 
but,  with  regard  to  this  last  speculation,  he  was 
wrong,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

It  was  long  thought  that  the  Chameleon,  like 
most  of  the  lizard  tribe,  was  produced  from  an  egg. 
The  little  animal  is,  however,  most  clearly  viviparous, 
and  not  oviparous,  although  the  tales  told  of  the 
lizard  tribe  in  the  story  books  are  most  perplexing. 
To  name  a  few  of  them  : — 1.  The  crocodile,  which  is 
the  largest  of  the  lizard  tribe,  and  has  even  attained 

*  The  Fables  of  John  Gay.  Illustrated.  With  Original 
Memoir,  Introduction,  and  Annotations.  By  Octavius  Freire 
Owen,  M.A.,  F.S.A.  1854. 


CHAMELEONS,    AND   THEIR    CHANGES.  311 

the  size  of  18^  ft.  in  length,  is  confidently  stated  as 
laying  eggs,  which  she  covers  with  sand  and  leaves, 
to  be  hatched  by  the  sun ;  and  these  have  been  met 
with  in  the  rivers  Nile,  Niger,  and  Ganges.  2. 
Lacerta  Gangetica,  unknown  to  Linnaeus,  but  brought 
to  this  country  from  Bengal  in  1747  by  the  late  Dr. 
Mead,  is  said  to  be  furnished  with  a  false  belly,  like 
the  opossum,  where  the  young  can  be  received  for 
protection  in  time  of  danger.  In  this  case  the  egg 
must  have  been  hatched  in  the  belly  of  the  animal, 
like  the  viper.  3.  The  alligator,  or  American  croco- 
dile, lays  a  vast  quantity  of  eggs  in  the  sand,  near 
the  banks  of  lakes  and  rivers,  and  leaves  them  to  be 
hatched  by  the  sun  ;  and  the  young  are  seldom  seen. 
4.  The  cayman,  or  Antilles  crocodile,  has  furnished 
its  eggs  to  many  collections.  5.  A  salamander  was 
opened  by  M.  Maupertuis,  and  its  belly  was  found 
full  of  eggs ;  but  in  "  Les  Memoires  de  1' Academic 
Roy  ale  des  Sciences  "  it  is  stated  that,  after  a  similar 
operation  of  the  kind,  "  fifty  young  ones,  resembling 
the  parent  animal,  were  found  in  its  womb  all  alive, 
and  actively  running  about  the  room." 

The  tongue  is  the  chief  organ  for  taking  the 
insects  on  which  the  Chameleon  lives.  By  a  curious 
mechanism,  of  which  the  tongue-bone  is  a  principal 
agent,  the  Chameleon  can  protrude  this  cylindrical 
tongue,  which  has  its  tip  covered  with  a  glutinous 
secretion  from  the  sheath  at  the  lower  part  of  the 
mouth,  to  the  length  of  six  inches.  When  the 
Chameleon  is  about  to  seize  an  insect,  it  rolls  round 
its  extraordinary  eyeballs  so  as  to  bring  them  to 


312  CHAMELEONS,    AND    THEIR    CHANGES. 

bear  on  the  doomed  object ;  as  soon  as  it  arrives 
within  the  range  of  the  tongue,  that  organ  is  pro- 
jected with  unerring  precision,  and  returns  into  the 
mouth  with  the  prey  adhering  to  the  viscous  tip. 
The  wonderful  activity  with  which  this  feat  is  per- 
formed, forms  a  strong  contrast  to  the  almost 
ridiculously  slow  motions  of  the  animal.  Their 
operation  of  taking  meal-worms,  of  which  they  are 
fond,  though  comparatively  rapid,  is  not  remarkable 
for  its  quickness,  but  done  with  an  act  of  delibera- 
tion, and  so  that  the  projection  and  retraction  of 
the  tongue  can  be  very  distinctly  followed  with 
the  eye. 

The  eyes  of  the  Chameleon  are  remarkable  objects ; 
large,  projecting,  and  almost  entirely  covered  with 
the  shagreen-like  skin,  with  the  exception  of  a  small 
aperture  opposite  the  pupil;  their  motions  are 
completely  independent  of  each  other.  It  adds  to 
the  strange  and  grotesque  appearance  of  this  crea- 
ture to  see  it  roll  one  of  its  eye-globes  backwards, 
while  the  other  is  directed  forwards,  as  if  making 
two  distinct  surveys  at  one  time.  Its  sight  must  be 
acute,  from  the  unerring  certainty  with  which  it 
marks  and  strikes  its  prey. 

The  Chameleons  spend  their  lives  in  trees,  for 
clinging  to  the  branches  of  which  their  organiza- 
tion is  admirably  adapted.  There  they  lie  in  wait 
for  the  insects  which  may  come  within  their  reach  ; 
and  it  has  been  thought  that,  in  such  situations, 
their  faculty  of  changing  colour  becomes  highly 
important  in  aiding  them  to  conceal  themselves. 


CHAMELEONS,  AND  THEIR  CHANGES.     313 

The  powers  of  abstinence  possessed  by  this  singular 
race  are  very  great;  and  hence,  most  probably, 
arose  the  old  fable  of  their  living  on  air,  which 
was  for  a  long  time  considered  to  be  "  the  Chame- 
leon's dish."  One  has  been  known  to  fast  upwards 
of  six  weeks  without  taking  any  sustenance,  though 
meat-food  and  insects  were  procured  for  it.  Not- 
withstanding this  fast,  it  did  not  appear  to  fall  away 
much.  It  would  fix  itself  by  the  feet  and  tail  to 
the  bars  of  the  fender,  and  there  remain  motionless, 
enjoying  the  warmth  of  the  fire  for  hours  together. 
Hasselquist  describes  one,  that  he  kept  for  nearly  a 
month,  as  climbing  up  and  down  the  bars  of  its  cage 
in  a  very  lively  manner. 

The  power  of  the  Chameleon's  changing  colour 
long  exercised  the  ingenuity  of  the  old  naturalists. 
Hasselquist  thought  that  the  changes  of  colour  de- 
pended on  a  kind  of  disease,  more  especially  a  sort 
of  jaundice,  to  which  the  animal  was  subject,  par- 
ticularly when  it  was  put  in  a  rage.  M.  D'Obson- 
ville  thought  that  he  had  discovered  the  secret  in 
the  blood,  and  that  the  change  of  colour  depended 
upon  a  mixture  of  blue  and  yellow,  whence  the 
different  shades  of  green  were  derived;  and  these 
colours  he  obtains  from  the  blood  and  the  blood- 
vessels. Thus  he  says  that  the  blood  is  of  a  violet 
hue,  and  will  retain  its  colour  on  linen  or  paper  for 
some  minutes  if  previously  steeped  in  a  solution  of 
alum,  and  that  the  coats  of  the  vessels  are  yellow ; 
consequently,  he  argues,  that  the  mixture  of  the  two 
will  produce  green.  He  further  traces  the  change 


314  CHAMELEONS,    AND    THEIR    CHANGES. 

of  colour  to  the  passions  of  the  animal.  Thus,  when 
a  healthy  Chameleon  is  provoked,  the  circulation  is 
accelerated,  the  vessels  that  are  spread  over  the 
skin  are  distended,  and  a  superficial  blue-green 
colour  is  produced.  When,  on  the  contrary,  the 
animal  is  imprisoned,  impoverished,  and  deprived 
of  free  air,  the  circulation  becomes  languid,  the 
vessels  are  not  filled,  the  colour  of  their  coats  pre- 
vails, and  the  Chameleon  changes  to  a  yellow-green, 
which  lasts  during  its  confinement. 

Barrow,  in  his  "  Travels  in  Africa,"  declares  that 
previously  to  the  Chameleon's  assuming  a  change  of 
colour,  it  makes  a  long  inspiration,  the  body  swell- 
ing out  to  twice  its  usual  size ;  and  as  the  inflation 
subsides,  the  change  of  colour  gradually  takes 
place,  the  only  permanent  marks  being  two  small 
dark  lines  passing  along  the  sides.  Mr.  Wood  con- 
ceives from  this  account  that  the  animal  is  prin- 
cipally indebted  for  these  varied  tints  to  the  influence 
of  oxygen.  Mr.  Spittal  also  regards  these  changes 
as  connected  with  the  state  of  the  lungs ;  and  Mr. 
Houston  considers  this  phenomenon  as  dependent  on 
the  turgescency  of  the  skin.  Dr.  Weissenborn  thinks 
it  not  unlikely  that  the  nervous  currents  may  directly 
co-operate  in  effecting  the  changes  of  colour  in  the 
Chameleon. 

Mr.  H.  N.  Turner,  writing  from  personal  obser- 
vation of  the  phenomenon  in  a  live  Chameleon  in 
his  possession,  says  : — "  It  has  been  generally 
imagined  that  the  purpose  of  the  singular  faculty 
accorded  to  the  Chameleon  is  to  enable  it  to  accom- 


CHAMELEONS,    AND    THEIR    CHANGES.  315 

modate  its  appearance  to  that  of  surrounding 
objects."  Mr.  Turner's  observations  do  not,  how- 
ever, favour  the  idea,  but  seem  rather  to  negative 
it.  The  box  in  which  Mr.  Turner's  Chameleon  was 
kept  was  of  deal,  with  glass  at  the  top,  and  a  piece 
of  flannel  laid  at  the  bottom,  a  small  branching  stick 
being  placed  there  by  way  of  a  perch.  He  introduced, 
at  various  times,  pieces  of  coloured  paper,  covering 
the  bottom  of  the  box,  of  blue,  yellow,  and  scarlet, 
but  without  the  slightest  eifect  upon  the  appearance 
of  the  animal.  Considering  that  these  primary 
colours  were  not  such  as  it  would  be  likely  to  be 
placed  in  contact  with  in  a  state  of  nature,  he  next 
tried  a  piece  of  green  calico,  but  equally  without 
result.  The  animal  went  through  all  its  usual 
changes  without  their  being  in  any  way  modified 
by  the  colour  placed  underneath  it.  The  general 
tint  approximated,  as  may  be  readily  observed,  to 
those  of  the  branches  of  trees,  just  as  those  of  most 
animals  do  to  the  places  in  which  they  dwell ;  but 
Mr.  Turner  did  not  observe  the  faculty  of  changing 
called  into  play  with  any  apparent  object.  It  is 
only  when  the  light  is  removed  that  the  animal 
assumes  a  colour  which  absorbs  but  little  of  it. 

Not  to  go  further  into  the  numerous  treatises 
which  have  been  published  on  this  intricate  subject 
without  arriving  at  a  just  conclusion,  we  refer  to 
the  able  and  interesting  paper  of  Mr.  Milne  Edwards, 
for  whose  acuteness  the  solution  of  this  puzzling 
phenomenon  was  reserved.  The  steps  by  which  he 
first  overthrew  the  received  theories  on  the  subject, 


316     CHAMELEONS,  AND  THEIR  CHANGES. 

and  then  arrived  at  the  cause  of  the  change  of 
colour,  is  shown  in  the  following  results,  derived 
from  observing  two  Chameleons  living,  and  re- 
searches after  the  animals  had  died,  on  the  structure 
of  their  skin,  and  the  parts  immediately  beneath  it. 

1.  That  the  change  in  the  colour  of  the  Chame- 
leon does  not  depend  essentially  either  on  the  more 
or  less  considerable  swelling  of  their  bodies,  or  the 
changes  which  might  hence  result  to  the  condition 
of  their  blood  or  circulation  ;  nor  does  it  depend  on 
the  greater  or  less  distance  which  may  exist  between 
the  several  cutaneous  tubercles ;  although  it  is  not 
to    be    denied    that   these   circumstances   probably 
exercise  some  influence  upon  the  phenomenon. 

2.  That  there  exist  in  the  skin  of  these  animals 
two  layers  of  membranous  pigment,  placed  the  one 
above  the  other,  but  disposed  in  such  a  way  as  to 
appear  simultaneously  under  the  cuticle,  and  some- 
times in  such  a  manner  that  the  one  may  hide  the 
other. 

3.  That  everything  remarkable  in  the  changes  of 
colour  in  the  Chameleon  may  be  explained  by  the 
appearance   of  the  pigment  of  the  deeper  layer  to 
an  extent  more  or  less  considerable,  in  the  midst  of 
the  pigment  of  the  superficial  layer,  or   from  its 
disappearance  beneath  this  layer. 

4.  That   these  displacements  of  the  deeper   pig- 
ment do  in  reality  occur ;  and  it  is  a  probable  con- 
sequence that  the  Chameleon's  colour  changes  during 
life,  and  may  continue  to  change  even  after  death. 

5.  That  there  exists  a  close  analogy  between  the 


CHAMELEONS,    AND   THEIR   CHANGES.  317 

mechanism  by  the  help  of  which  the  change  of 
colour  appears  to  take  place  in  these  reptiles,  and 
that  which  determines  the  successive  appearance  and 
disappearance  of  coloured  spots  in  the  mantles  of 
several  of  the  cephalopods. 

Chameleons  are  found  in  warm  climates  of  the 
old  world,  South  of  Spain,  Africa,  East  Indies, 
Isles  of  Sechelles,  Bourbon,  France,  Moluccas, 
Madagascar  (where  it  is  said  there  are  seven  of  the 
species  which  belong  to  Africa),  Fernando  Po,  and 
New  South  Wales.  In  the  year  1860,  a  new  and 
curiously  formed  species  of  Chameleon  was  brought 
from  the  interior  of  the  Old  Calabar  district  of 
West  Africa,  by  one  of  the  natives.  It  is  charac- 
terized by  three  horny  processes  on  the  head.  Many 
Lizards  have  singular  spiny  projections  on  all  parts 
of  the  body ;  but  this  very  well  marked  species  had 
not  been  hitherto  recorded. 

Mrs.  Belzoni,  the  wife  of  the  celebrated  traveller 
in  the  East,  made  some  careful  observations  upon 
the  habits  of  Chameleons,  which  are  worth  quoting. 
The  Arabs  in  Lower  Egypt  catch  Chameleons  by 
jumping  upon  them,  flinging  stones  at  them,  or 
striking  them  with  sticks,  which  hurts  them  very 
much.  The  Nubians  lay  them  down  gently  on 
the  ground,  and  when  they  come  down  from  the 
date-trees,  they  catch  hold  of  the  tail  of  the  animal, 
and  fix  a  string  to  it ;  therefore  the  body  does  not 
get  injured,  Mrs.  Belzoni  had  some  Chameleons  for 
several  months  in  her  house,  and  her  observations 
are  as  follows  : — 


318  CHAMELEONS,    AND    THEIR    CHANGES. 

"  In  the  first  place  they  are  very  inveterate  towards 
each  other,  and  must  not  be  shut  up  together,  else 
they  will  bite  each  other's  tails  and  legs  off. 

"There  are  three  species  of  Chameleons,  whose 
colours  are  peculiar  to  themselves  :  for  instance,  the 
commonest  sort  are  those  which  are  generally  green, 
that  is  to  say,  the  body  all  green,  and,  when  con- 
tent, beautifully  marked  on  each  side  regularly  on 
the  green  with  black  and  yellow,  not  in  a  confused 
manner,  but  as  if  drawn.  This  kind  is  in  great 
plenty ;  they  never  have  any  other  colour  except  a 
light  green  when  they  sleep,  and  when  ill,  a  very 
pale  yellow.  Out  of  near  forty  I  had  the  first  year 
when  in  Nubia,  I  had  but  one,  and  that  a  very 
small  one  of  the  second  sort,  which  had  red  marks. 
One  Chameleon  lived  with  me  eight  months,  and 
most  of  that  time  I  had  it  fixed  to  the  button  of  my 
coat :  it  used  to  rest  on  my  shoulder  or  on  my  head, 
I  have  observed,  when  I  have  kept  it  shut  up  in  a 
room  for  some  time,  that  on  bringing  it  out  in  the 
air  it  would  begin  drawing  the  air  in,  and  on 
putting  it  on  some  marjorum  it  has  had  a  wonderful 
effect  on  it  immediately :  its  colour  became  most 
brilliant.  I  believe  it  will  puzzle  a  good  many  to 
say  what  cause  it  proceeds  from.  If  they  did  not 
change  when  shut  up  in  a  house,  but  only  on  taking 
them  in  a  garden,  it  might  be  supposed  the  change 
of  the  colours  was  in  consequence  of  the  smell  of 
the  plants  ;  but  when  in  a  house,  if  it  is  watched,  it 
will  change  every  ten  minutes  :  some  moments  a 
plain  green,  at  others  all  its  beautiful  colours  will 


CHAMELEONS. 


CHAMELEONS,    AND    THEIR    CHANGES.  319 

come  out,  and  when  in  a  passion  it  becomes  of  a 
deep  black,  and  will  swell  itself  up  like  a  balloon, 
and,  from  being  one  of  the  most  beautiful  animals, 
it  becomes  one  of  the  most  ugly.  It  is  true  that 
Chameleons  are  extremely  fond  of  the  fresh  air,  and 
on  taking  them  to  a  window  when  there  is  nothing 
to  be  seen,  it  is  easy  to  observe  the  pleasure  they 
certainly  take  in  it :  they  begin  to  gulp  down  the 
air,  and  their  colour  becomes  brighter.  I  think  it 
proceeds,  in  a  great  degree,  from  the  temper  they 
are  in  :  a  little  thing  will  put  them  in  a  bad  humour  : 
if  in  crossing  a  table,  for  instance,  you  stop  them, 
and  attempt  to  turn  them  another  road,  they  will 
not  stir,  and  are  extremely  obstinate :  on  opening 
the  mouth  at  them,  it  will  set  them  in  a  passion  : 
they  begin  to  arm  themselves  by  swelling  and  turn- 
ing black,  and  will  sometimes  hiss  a  little,  but  not 
much. 

"  The  third  I  brought  from  Jerusalem  was  the  most 
singular  of  all  the  Chameleons  I  ever  had  :  its  temper, 
if  it  can  be  so  called,  was  extremely  sagacious  and 
cunning.  This  one  was  not  of  the  order  of  the  green 
kind,  but  a  disagreeable  drab,  and  it  never  once  varied 
in  its  colour  in  two  months.  On  my  arrival  in  Cairo, 
I  used  to  let  it  crawl  about  the  room  on  the  furniture. 
Sometimes  it  would  get  down,  if  it  could,  and  hide  itself 
away  from  me,  but  in  a  place  where  it  could  see  me; 
and  sometimes,  on  my  leaving  the  room  and  on  enter- 
ing it,  would  draw  itself  so  thin  as  to  make  itself 
nearly  on  a  level  with  whatever  it  might  be  on,  so 
that  I  might  not  see  it.  It  had  often  deceived  me 


320  CHAMELEONS,    AND    THEIR    CHANGES. 

so.  One  day  having  missed  it  for  some  time,  I  con- 
cluded it  was  hid  about  the  room ;  after  looking  for 
it  in  vain,  I  thought  it  had  got  out  of  the  room  and 
made  its  escape :  in  the  course  of  the  evening,  after 
the  candle  was  lighted,  I  went  to  a  basket  that  had 
got  a  handle  across  it :  I  saw  my  Chameleon,  but  its 
colour  entirely  changed,  and  different  to  any  I  ever 
had  seen  before  :  the  whole  body,  head  and  tail,  a 
brown  with  black  spots,  and  beautiful  deep  orange- 
coloured  spots  round  the  black.  I  certainly  was  much 
gratified.  On  being  disturbed,  its  colours  vanished, 
unlike  the  others  ;  but  after  this  I  used  to  observe  it 
the  first  thing  in  the  morning,  when  it  would  have 
the  same  colours.  Some  time  after,  it  made  its  escape 
out  of  my  room,  and  I  suppose  got  into  the  garden 
close  by.  I  was  much  vexed,  and  would  have  given 
twenty  dollars  to  have  recovered  it  again,  though  it 
only  cost  me  threepence,  knowing  I  could  not  get 
another  like  it ;  for,  afterwards  being  in  Rosetta,  I 
had  between  fifty  and  sixty ;  but  all  those  were  green, 
yellow,  and  black  ;  and  the  Arabs,  in  catching  them, 
had  bruised  them  so  much,  that  after  a  month  or  six 
weeks  they  died.  It  is  an  animal  extremely  hard  to 
die.  I  had  prepared  two  cages  with  separate  divi- 
sions, with  the  intention  of  bringing  them  to  Eng- 
land ;  but  though  I  desired  the  Arabs  that  used  to 
get  them  for  me  to  catch  them  by  the  tail,  they  used 
to  hurt  them  much  with  their  hands ;  and  if  once  the 
body  is  squeezed,  it  will  never  live  longer  than  two 
months.  When  they  used  to  sleep  at  night,  it  was 
easy  to  see  where  they  had  been  bruised ;  for  being 


CHAMELEONS,    AND   THEIR    CHANGES.  321 

of  a  very  light  colour  when  sleeping,  the  part  that 
had  been  bruised,  either  on  the  body  or  the  head, 
which  was  bone,  was  extremely  black,  though  when 
green  it  would  not  show  itself  so  clear.  Their  chief 
food  was  flies  :  the  fly  does  not  die  immediately  on 
being  swallowed,  for  upon  taking  the  Chameleon  up 
in  my  hands,  it  was  easy  to  feel  the  fly  buzzing, 
chiefly  on  account  of  the  air  they  draw  in  their 
inside  :  they  swell  much,  and  particularly  when  they 
want  to  fling  themselves  off  a  great  height,  by  filling 
themselves  up  like  a  balloon :  on  falling,  they  get  no 
hurt,  except  on  the  mouth,  which  they  bruise  a  little, 
as  that  comes  first  to  the  ground.  Sometimes  they 
will  not  drink  for  three  or  four  days,  and  when  they 
begin  they  are  about  half  an  hour  drinking.  I  have 
held  a  glass  in  one  hand  while  the  Chameleon  rested 
its  two  forepaws  on  the  edge  of  it,  the  two  hind  ones 
resting  on  my  other  hand.  It  stood  upright  while 
drinking,  holding  its  head  up  like  a  fowl.  By  fling- 
ing its  tongue  out  of  its  mouth  the  length  of  its 
body,  and  instantaneously  catching  the  fly,  it  would 
go  back  like  a  spring.  They  will  drink  mutton 
broth  :  how  I  came  to  know  this  was,  one  day  having 
a  plate  of  broth  and  rice  on  the  table  where  it  was  : 
it  went  to  the  plate  and  got  half  into  it,  and  began 
drinking,  and  trying  to  take  up  some  of  the  rice,  by 
pushing  it  with  its  mouth  towards  the  side  of  the 
plate,  which  kept  it  from  moving,  and  in  a  very 
awkward  way  taking  it  into  its  mouth." 

In  the  autumn  of  1868,  a  pair  of  Chameleons,  in 
the  possession  of  the  Hon.  Lady  Cust,  of  Leasowe 

x 


322  CHAMELEONS,    AND    THEIR    CHANGES. 

Castle,  Cheshire,  produced  nine  active  young  ones, 
like  little  alligators,  less  than  an  inch  long.  Such  a 
birth  has  been,  it  is  believed,  very  rare  in  this 
country.  It  was  remarked,  in  the  above  case,  that 
the  male  and  female  appeared  altogether  indifferent 
about  their  progeny. 

Whatever  may  be  the  cause,  the  fact  seems  to  be 
certain,  that  the  Chameleon  has  an  antipathy  to  ob- 
jects of  a  black  colour.  One,  which  Forbes  kept, 
uniformly  avoided  a  black  board  which  was  hung  up 
in  the  chamber ;  and,  what  is  most  remarkable,  when 
the  Chameleon  was  held  forcibly  before  the  black 
board,  it  trembled  violently  and  assumed  a  black 
colour.* 

It  may  be  something  of  the  same  kind  which 
makes  Bulls  and  Turkey-cocks  dislike  the  colour  of 
scarlet,  a  fact  of  which  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

*  This,  it  will  be  seen  by  referring  to  page  307,  does  not 
correspond  with  Calmet's  statement. 


EUNNING  TOADS. 


| HAT  the  Toad,  by  common  repute  "ugly 
and  venomous/'  should  be  made  a  parlour 
pet,  is  passing  strange ;  yet  such  is  the  case, 
and  we  find  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  Husenbeth,  of 
Cossey,  the  following  curious  instances.  Thus  he 
describes  a  species,  there  often  met  with,  the  eyes 
of  which  have  the  pupil  surrounded  with  bright 
golden-yellow,  whereas  in  the  common  toad  the 
circle  is  red  or  orange.  This  remarkable  peculiarity 
Dr.  H.  has  not  seen  anywhere  noticed.  The  head  is 
like  that  of  the  common  sort,  but  much  more  blunt, 
and  rounded  off  at  the  nose  and  mouth,  and  the 
arches  over  the  eyes  are  more  prominent.  The 
most  remarkable  difference  is  a  line  of  yellow 
running  all  down  the  back.  Also  down  each  side 
this  Toad  has  a  row  of  red  pimples,  like  small  beads, 
which  are  tolerably  regular,  but  appear  more  in  some 
specimens  than  in  others.  The  general  colour  is  a 
yellowish-olive,  but  the  animal  is  beautifully  marked 
with  black  spots,  very  regularly  disposed,  and 
x  2 


324  RUNNING   TOADS. 

exactly  corresponding  on  each  side  of  the  yellow 
line  down  the  back.  Like  all  other  Toads,  this  one 
occasionally  changes  its  colour,  becoming  more 
brown,  or  ash-colour,  or  reddish  at  times,  probably 
in  certain  states  of  the  weather.  This  species  is 
much  more  active  than  the  common  Toad.  It  never 
leaps,  and  very  seldom  crawls,  but  makes  a  short 
run,  stops  a  little,  and  then  runs  on  again.  If 
frightened  or  pursued,  it  will  run  along  much 
quicker  than  one  would  suppose. 

During  the  previous  summer  Dr.  H.  kept  three 
Toads  of  this  kind  in  succession.  "  The  first  (says 
Dr.  H.)  I  procured  in  July ;  but  after  a  few  days, 
when  I  let  him  have  a  run  on  the  carpet  of  my 
parlour,  he  got  into  a  hole  in  a  corner  of  the  floor, 
of  which  I  was  not  aware,  and  fell,  as  I  suppose, 
underneath  the  floor,  into  the  hollow  space  below. 
I  concluded  that  he  could  never  get  up  again,  and 
gave  him  up  to  his  fate.  I  then  began  to  keep 
another  Running  Toad,  which  fed  well  at  first,  but 
after  three  weeks  refused  food,  and  evidently  wasted ; 
so  I  turned  him  out  into  the  garden,  and  have  not 
met  with  him  since.  After  more  than  three  weeks, 
the  former  Toad  reappeared,  but  how  he  came  up 
from  beneath  the  floor  I  never  could  conceive,  or 
how  he  had  picked  up  a  living  in  the  meantime.  He 
was,  however,  in  good  condition,  and  seemed  to  have 
lived  well,  probably  on  spiders  and  woodlice.  He 
had  been  seen  by  a  servant  running  about  the 
carpet,  but  I  knew  nothing  of  his  having  come 
forth  again,  till  in  the  evening,  when  he  had  got 


RUNNING   TOADS.  325 

near  the  door,  and  it  was  suddenly  opened  so  as  to 
pass  over  the  poor  creature,  and  crush  it  terribly. 
I  took  it  up  apparently  dead.  It  showed  no  sign  of 
life ;  the  eyes  were  closed,  it  did  not  breathe,  and 
the  backbone  seemed  quite  broken,  and  the  animal 
was  crushed  almost  flat.  I  found  a  very  curious 
milky  secretion  exuding  from  it,  where  it  had  been 
most  injured  and  the  skin  was  most  broken.  This 
was  perfectly  white,  and  had  exactly  the  appearance 
of  milk  thrown  over  the  toad.  It  did  not  bleed, 
though  much  lacerated;  but  instead  of  blood  ap- 
peared this  milky  fluid,  which  had  an  odour  of  a 
most  singular  kind,  different  from  anything  I  ever 
smelt.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  it.  It  was  not 
fetid,  but  of  a  sickly,  disgusting,  and  overpowering 
character,  so  that  I  could  not  endure  to  inhale  it  for 
a  moment.  I  had  read  and  seen  a  good  deal  of  the 
extraordinary  powers  of  revivification  in  toads,  but 
was  not  prepared  for  what  I  witnessed  on  this  occa- 
sion. I  laid  this  poor  animal,  crushed,  flattened, 
motionless,  and  to  all  appearance  dead,  upon  a  cold 
iron  plate  of  the  fireplace.  He  fell  over  on  one  side, 
and  showed  no  sign  of  life  for  a  full  hour.  After 
that  he  had  slightly  moved  one  leg,  and  so  remained 
for  about  another  half-hour.  Then  he  began  to 
breathe  feebly,  and  gathered  up  his  legs,  and  his 
back  began  to  rise  up  into  its  usual  form.  In  about 
two  hours  from  the  time  of  the  accident,  he  had  so 
far  recovered  as  to  crawl  about,  though  with  diffi- 
culty. The  milky  liquor  was  reabsorbed,  and  gradu- 
ally disappeared  as  the  toad  recovered.  The  next 


326  RUNNING    TOADS. 

morning  it  was  all  gone,  and  no  mark  of  injury 
could  be  seen,  except  a  small  hole  in  his  back,  which 
soon  closed.  He  recovered  so  far  as  to  move  about 
pretty  well,  but  his  back  appeared  to  have  been 
broken,  and  one  foreleg  crippled.  I  therefore  thought 
it  best  to  give  him  his  liberty  in  the  garden.  But  so 
wonderful  and  speedy  a  recovery  I  could  never  have 
believed  without  ocular  testimony. 

"  I  then  tried  my  third  and  last  Running  Toad.  I 
began  to  keep  him  on  Sept.  13th.  He  was  a  very 
fine  specimen,  and  larger  than  the  two  former.  He 
fed  well,  and  amused  me  exceedingly..  He  was  very 
tame,  and  would  sit  on  my  hand  quite  quiet,  and 
enjoy  my  stroking  him  gently  down  his  head  and 
back.  Soon  after  I  got  him  he  began  to  cast  his 
skin.  I  helped  him  to  get  rid  of  it  by  stripping  it 
down  each  side,  which  he  seemed  to  like  much,  and 
sat  very  quiet  during  the  operation.  The  new  skin 
was  quite  beautiful,  and  shone  as  if  varnished.  This 
Toad  lived  in  a  crystal  palace,  or  glass  jar,  where  I 
had  kept  all  the  others  before  him.  He  took  food 
freely,  and  his  appetite  was  so  good  that  in  one  day 
he  eat  seven  large  flies  and  three  bees  without 
stings.  He  was  particularly  fond  of  woodlice  and 
earwigs,  but  would  take  centipedes,  moths,  and  even 
butterflies.  Being  more  active  than  common  Toads, 
he  often  made  great  efforts  to  get  out  of  his  glass 
jar.  I  used  to  let  him  run  about  the  room  nearly 
every  day  for  a  short  time,  and  often  treated  him  to 
a  run  in  the  garden.  Toads  make  a  slight  noise 
sometimes  in  the  evenings,  uttering  a  short  sound 


RUNNING   TOADS.  327 

like  'coo,9  but  I  never  heard  them  croak.  Before 
wet  weather,  and  during  its  continuance,  my  Toad 
was  disinclined  for  food,  and  took  no  notice  of  flies 
even  walking  over  his  nose.  He  would  then  burrow 
and  hide  himself  in  the  moss  at  the  bottom  of  his 
glass  palace.  Thus  I  kept  him,  and  found  him  very 
tame  and  amusing.  But  after  about  two  months  he 
became  more  impatient  of  confinement,  and  refused 
to  take  any  food.  I  did  not  perceive  that  he  fell 
away,  though  his  feet  and  toes  turned  of  a  dark 
colour,  which  I  knew  was  a  sign  of  being  out  of 
condition ;  and,  on  the  10th  of  November,  I  found 
him  dead.  I  have  now  tried  three  of  this  sort,  and 
have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Running  Toad 
will  not  live  in  captivity.  This  I  much  regret,  as 
its  habits  are  interesting,  and  its  ways  very  amusing. 

"F.    C.    HUSENBETH,   DD." 


FROG   AND    TOAD    CONCERTS. 

It  would  be  hard  to  believe  the  stories  of  the  vocal 
powers  of  Frogs  and  Toads  were  they  not  related  by 
trustworthy  travellers,  who  tell  of  animal  concerts, 

"  Wild  as  the  marsh,  and  tuneful  as  the  harp." 

Mr.  Priest,  the  traveller  in  America,  who  was 
himself  a  musician,  records  : — "  Prepared  as  I  was 
to  hear  something  extraordinary  from  these  animals, 


328          FROG  AND  TOAD  CONCERTS. 

I  confess  the  first  Frog  Concert  I  heard  in  America 
was  so  much  beyond  anything  I  could  conceive  of 
the  power  of  these  musicians,  that  I  was  truly 
astonished.  This  performance  was  al  fresco,  and 
took  place  on  the  eighteenth  of  April,  in  a  large 
swamp,  where  there  were  at  least  10,000  performers ; 
and  I  really  believe  not  two  exactly  in  the  same 
pitch,  if  the  octave  can  possibly  admit  of  so  many 
divisions,  or  shades  of  semitones." 

Professor  and  Mrs.  Louis  Agassiz,  in  their  recent 
"  Journey  in  Brazil,"  record  : — "  We  must  not 
leave  Para  without  alluding  to  our  evening  concerts 
from  the  adjoining  woods  and  swamps.  When  I 
first  heard  this  strange  confusion  of  sounds,  I 
thought  it  came  from  a  crowd  of  men  shouting 
loudly,  though  at  a  little  distance.  To  my  surprise, 
I  found  that  the  rioters  were  the  frogs  and  toads  in 
the  neighbourhood.  I  hardly  know  how  to  describe 
this  Babel  of  woodland  noises ;  and,  if  I  could  do  it 
justice,  I  am  afraid  my  account  would  hardly  be 
believed.  At  moments  it  seems  like  the  barking  of 
dogs,  then  like  the  calling  of  many  voices  on  different 
keys;  but  all  loud,  rapid,  excited,  full  of  emphasis 
and  variety.  I  think  these  frogs,  like  ours,  must  be 
silent  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  for  on  our  first 
visit  to  Para  we  were  not  struck  by  this  singular 
music,  with  which  the  woods  now  resound  at  night- 
fall." 


SONG  OF  THE  CICADA. 


| HE  Greeks  have  been  scoffed  at  for  rendering 
in  deathless  verse  the  song  of  so  insignificant 
an  insect  as  the  Cicada ;  and  hence  it  has 
been  asserted  that  their  love  for  such  slender  music 
must  have  been  either  exaggerated  or  simulated.  It 
is  pleasant,  however,  to  hear  an  independent  observer 
in  the  other  hemisphere  confirm  their  testimony. 
Mr.  Lord  tells  us  that  in  British  Colombia  there  is 
one  sound  or  song  which  is  clearer,  shriller,  and 
more  singularly  tuneful  than  any  other.  It  never 
appears  to  cease,  and  it  comes  from  everywhere — 
from  the  tops  of  the  trees,  from  the  trembling  leaves 
of  the  cotton-wood,  from  the  stunted  under-brush, 
from  the  flowers,  the  grass,  the  rocks  and  boulders — 
nay,  the  very  stream  itself  seems  vocal  with  hidden 
minstrels,  all  chanting  the  same  refrain. 

An  especial  feature  of  the  Cicada's  song  is,  that  it 
increases  in  intensity  when  the  sun  is  hottest ;  and 
one  of  the  later  Latin  poets  mentions  the  time  when 
its  music  is  at  its  highest,  as  an  alternative  expres- 


330  SONG    OF    THE    CICADA. 

sion  for  noon.  Mr.  Tennyson,  inadvertently,  speaks 
in  ".^Enone  "  of  the  Grasshopper  being  silent  in  the 
grass,  and  of  the  Cicada  sleeping  when  the  noonday 
quiet  holds  the  hill.  Keats  sings  more  truly : — 

"  When  all  the  birds  are  faint  with  the  hot  sun, 
And  hide  in  cooling  trees,  a  voice  will  run 
From  hedge  to  hedge  about  the  new-mown  mead : 
That  is  the  Grasshopper's." 

Then  the  Greek  poets  show  us  how  intimately  the 
song  of  the  Cicada  is  associated  with  the  hottest 
hours  of  the  day.  Aristophanes  describes  it  as  mad 
for  the  love  of  the  sun  ;  and  Theocritus,  as  scorched 
by  the  sun.  When  all  things  are  parched  with  the 
heat  (says  Alcseus),  then  from  among  the  leaves  issues 
the  song  of  the  sweet  Cicada.  His  shrill  melody  is 
heard  in  the  full  glow  of  noontide,  and  the  vertical 
rays  of  a  torrid  sun  fire  him  to  sing.  Over  and  over 
again  Mr.  Lord  met  with  allusions  to  the  same 
peculiarity. 

Cicadae  are  regularly  sold  for  food  in  the  markets 
of  South  America.  They  are  not  eaten  now,  like 
they  were  at  Athens,  as  a  whet  to  the  appetite  ;  but 
they  are  dried  in  the  sun,  powdered,  and  made  into 
a  cake. 


STORIES  ABOUT  THE  BARNACLE  GOOSE. 


"  As  barnacles  turn  Poland  geese 
In  th'  islands  of  the  Orcades." — Hudibras. 


(NE  of  the  earliest  references  to  this  popular 
error  is  in  the  "Natural  Magic"  of  Bap- 
tista  Porta,  who  says  : — "  Late  writers 
report  that  not  only  in  Scotland,  but  also  in  the 
river  of  Thames  by  London,  there  is  a  kind  of 
shell-fish  in  a  two-leaved  shell,  that  hath  a  foot 
full  of  plaits  and  wrinkles.  .  .  .  They  commonly 
stick  to  the  keel  of  some  old  ship.  Some  say  they 
come  of  worms,  some  of  the  boughs  of  trees  which 
fall  into  the  sea  ;  if  any  of  them  be  cast  upon  shore, 
they  die ;  but  they  which  are  swallowed  still  into 
the  sea,  live  and  get  out  of  their  shells,  and  grow  to 
be  ducks,  or  such-like  birds." 

Professor  Max  Miiller,  in  a  learned  lecture,  enters 
fully  into  the  origin  of  the  different  stories  about 
the  Barnacle  Goose.  He  quotes  from  the  "  Philo- 
sophical Transactions  "  of  1678  a  full  account  by 
Sir  Robert  Moray,  who  declared  that  he  had  seen 


332         STORIES    ABOUT    THE    BARNACLE    GOOSE. 

within  the  barnacle  shell,  as  through  a  concave  or 
diminishing  glass,  the  bill,  eyes,  head,  neck,  breast, 
wings,  tail,  feet,  and  feathers  of  the  Barnacle  Goose. 
The  next  witness  was  John  Gerarde,  Master  in 
Chirurgerie,  who,  in  1597,  declared  that  he  had 
seen  the  actual  metamorphosis  of  the  muscle  into 
the  bird,  describing  how— 

"  The  shell  gapeth  open,  and  the  first  thing  that 
appeareth  is  the  fore  said  lace  or  string  ;  next  come 
the  leg  of  the  birde  hanging  out,  and  as  it  groweth 
greater,  it  openeth  the  shell  by  degrees,  till  at 
length  it  is  all  come  forth,  and  hangeth  only  by 
the  bill,  and  falleth  into  the  sea,  when  it  gathereth 
feathers  and  groweth  to  a  foule,  bigger  than  a 
mallart ;  for  the  truth  hereof,  if  any  doubt,  may 
it  please  them  to  repair  unto  me,  and  I  shall  satisfie 
them  by  the  testimonies  of  good  witnesses." 

As  far  back  as  the  thirteenth  century,  the  same 
story  is  traced  in  the  writings  of  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis.  This  great  divine  does  not  deny  the  truth 
of  the  miraculous  origin  of  the  Barnacle  Geese,  but 
he  warns  the  Irish  priests  against  dining  off  them 
during  Lent  on  the  plea  that  they  were  not  flesh, 
but  fish.  For,  he  writes,  "  If  a  man  during  Lent 
were  to  dine  off  a  leg  of  Adam,  who  was  not  born 
of  flesh  either,  we  should  not  consider  him  innocent 
of  having  eaten  what  is  flesh."  This  modern  myth, 
which,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  such  men  as  Alber- 
tus  Magnus,  .ZEneas  Sylvius,  and  others,  maintained 
its  ground  for  many  centuries,  and  was  defended,  as 
late  as  1629,  in  a  book  by  Count  Maier,  "  De  volucri 


•  STORIES    ABOUT   THE    BARNACLE    GOOSE.          333 

arborea,"  with  arguments,  physical,  metaphysical, 
and  theological,  owed  its  origin  to  a  play  of  words. 
The  muscle  shells  are  called  Bernaculce  from  the 
Latin  perna,  the  mediaeval  Latin  berna ;  the  birds 
are  called  Hibernicce  or  Hiberniculce,  abbreviated  to 
Berniculce.  As  their  names  seem  one,  the  creatures 
are  supposed  to  be  one,  and  everything  conspires  to 
confirm  the  first  mistake,  and  to  invest  what  was 
originally  a  good  Irish  story — a  mere  canard — with 
all  the  dignity  of  scientific,  and  all  the  solemnity  of 
theological  truth.  The  myth  continued  to  live  until 
the  age  of  Newton.  Specimens  of  Lepadida,  pre- 
pared by  Professor  Rolleston  of  Oxford,  show  how 
the  outward  appearance  of  the  Anatifera  could  have 
supported  the  popular  superstition  which  derived  the 
Bernicla,  the  goose,  from  the  Bernicula,  the  shell. 

Drayton  (1613),  in  his  "  Poly-olbion,"  iii.,  in  cen- 
nexion  with  the  river  Lee,  speaks  of 

"  Th'  anatomised  fish  and  fowls  from  planchers  sprung  ;" 
to  which  a  note  is  appended  in  Southey's  edition, 
p.  609,  that  such  fowls  were  "Barnacles,  a  bird 
breeding  upon  old  ships."  A  bunch  of  the  shells 
attached  to  the  ship,  or  to  a  piece  of  floating  timber, 
at  a  distance  appears  like  flowers  in  bloom ;  the  foot 
of  the  animal  has  a  similitude  to  the  stalk  of  a  plant 
growing  from  the  ship's  sides,  the  shell  resembles 
a  calyx,  and  the  flower  consists  of  the  tentacula,  or 
fingers,  of  the  shell-fish.  The  ancient  error  was  to 
mistake  the  foot  for  the  neck  of  a  goose,  the  shell  for 
its  head,  and  the  tentacula  for  feathers.  As  to  the 
body,  non  est  inventus. 


334         STORIES    ABOUT    THE    BARNACLE    GOOSE. 

Sir  Kenelm  Digby  was  soundly  laughed  at  for 
relating  to  a  party  at  the  castle  of  the  Governor 
of  Calais,  that  "  the  Barnacle,  a  bird  in  Jersey,  was 
first  a  shell-fish  to  appearance,  and,  from  that  strik- 
ing upon  old  wood,  became  in  time  a  bird."  In 
1807,  there  was  exhibited  in  Spring-gardens,  Lon- 
don, a  "Wonderful  natural  curiosity,  called  the 
Goose  Tree,  Barnacle  Tree,  or  Tree  bearing  Geese/' 
taken  up  at  sea  on  January  12th,  and  more  than 
twenty  men  could  raise  out  of  the  water.* 

Sir  J.  Emerson  Tennent  asks  whether  the  ready 
acceptance  and  general  credence  given  to  so  obvious 
a  fable  may  not  have  been  derived  from  giving  too 
literal  a  construction  to  the  text  of  the  passage  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  : — 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  bring  forth  abundantly  the 
moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and  the  fowl  that  may  fly  in 
the  open  firmament  of  heaven." 

The  Barnacle  Goose  is  a  well-known  bird,  and  is 
eaten  on  fast-days  in  France,  by  virtue  of  this  old 
belief  in  its  marine  origin.  The  belief  in  the 
barnacle  origin  of  the  bird  still  prevails  on  the  west 
coast  of  Ireland,  and  in  the  Western  Highlands  of 
Scotland. 

The  finding  of  the  Barnacle  is  thus  described  by 
Mr.  Sidebotham,  to  the  Microscopical  and  Natural 
History  Section  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Society  : — "  In  September,  I  was  at  Lytham  with  my 
family.  The  day  was  very  stormy,  and  the-  pre- 
vious night  there  had  been  a  strong  south-west  wind, 
•  "  Notes  and  Queries,"  No.  201. 


STORIES   ABOUT   THE    BARNACLE    GOOSE.  335 

and  evidences  of  a  very  stormy  sea  outside  the  banks. 
Two  of  my  children  came  running  to  tell  me  of  a 
very  strange  creature  that  had  been  washed  up  on 
the  shore.  They  had  seen  it  from  the  pier,  and 
pointed  it  out  to  a  sailor,  thinking  it  was  a  large  dog 
with  long  hair.  On  reaching  the  shore  I  found  a 
fine  mass  of  Barnacles,  Pentalasinus  anatifera, 
attached  to  some  staves  of  a  cask,  the  whole 
being  between  four  and  five  feet  long.  Several 
sailors  had  secured  the  prize,  and  were  getting  it  on 
a  truck  to  carry  it  away.  The  appearance  was  most 
remarkable,  the  hundreds  of  long  tubes  with  their 
curious  shells  looking  like  what  one  would  fancy  the 
fabled  Gorgon's  head  with  its  snaky  locks.  The 
curiosity  was  carried  to  a  yard  where  it  was  to  be 
exhibited,  and  the  bellman  went  round  to  announce 
it  under  the  name  of  the  sea-lioness,  or  the  great  sea- 
serpent.  Another  mass  of  Barnacles  was  washed  up 
at  Lytham,  and  also  one  at  Blackpool,  the  same  day 
or  the  day  following.  This  mass  of  Barnacles  was 
evidently  just  such  a  one  as  that  seen  by  Gerard  at 
the  Pile  of  Foulders.  It  is  rare  to  have  such  a  speci- 
men on  our  coasts.  The  sailors  at  Lytham  had  never 
seen  anything  like  it,  although  some  of  them  were 
old  men  who  had  spent  all  their  lives  on  the  coast." 


LEAVES  ABOUT  BOOKWOKMS, 


paper,  leather,  and  parchment  are  found 
various  animals,  popularly  known  as  "  Book- 
worms." Johnson  describes  it  as  a  worm 
or  mite  that  eats  holes  in  books,  chiefly  when  damp  ; 
and  in  the  "  Guardian  "  we  find  this  reference  to  its 
habits  : — "  My  lion,  like  a  moth  or  bookworm,  feeds 
upon  nothing  but  paper." 

Many  years  ago  an  experienced  keeper  of  the  Ash- 
molean  Museum  at  Oxford  collected  these  interesting 
details  of  Bookworms : — "  The  larvae  of  Crambus  pin- 
guinalis  will  establish  themselves  upon  the  binding 
of  a  book,  and  spinning  a  robe  will  do  it  little  injury. 
A  mite,  Acarus  eruditus,  eats  the  paste  that  fastens 
the  paper  over  the  edges  of  the  binding  and  so 
loosens  it.  The  caterpillar  of  another  little  moth 
takes  its  station  in  damp  old  books,  between  the 
leaves,  and  there  commits  great  ravages.  The  little 
boring  wood-beetle,  who  attacks  books  and  will  even 
bore  through  several  volumes.  An  instance  is  men- 
tioned of  twenty-seven  folio  volumes  being  perforated 


LEAVES  ABOUT  BOOKWORMS.         337 

in  a  straight  line,  by  the  same  insect,  in  such  a 
manner  that  by  passing  a  cord  through  the  perfect 
round  hole  made  by  it  the  twenty-seven  volumes 
could  be  raised  at  once.  The  wood-beetle  also 
destroys  prints  and  drawings,  whether  framed  or 
kept  in  a  portfolio." 

There  is  another  "Bookworm,"  which  is  often 
confounded  with  the  Death-watch  of  the  vulgar ;  but 
is  smaller,  and  instead  of  beating  at  intervals,  as 
does  the  Death-watch,  continues  its  noise  for  a  con- 
siderable length  of  time  without  intermission.  It 
is  usually  found  in  old  wood,  decayed  furniture, 
museums,  and  neglected  books.  The  female  lays 
her  eggs,  which  are  exceedingly  small,  in  dry,  dusty 
places,  where  they  are  least  likely  to  meet  with 
disturbance.  They  are  generally  hatched  about 
the  beginning  of  March,  a  little  sooner  or  later, 
according  to  the  weather.  After  leaving  the  eggs, 
the  insects  are  so  small  as  to  be  scarcely  discerned 
without  the  use  of  a  glass.  They  remain  in  this 
state  about  two  months,  somewhat  resembling  in 
appearance  the  mites  in  cheese,  after  which  they 
undergo  their  change  into  the  perfect  insect.  They 
feed  on  dead  flies  and  other  insects ;  and  often,  from 
their  numbers  and  voracity,  very  much  deface  cabi- 
nets of  natural  history.  They  subsist  on  various 
other  substances,  and  may  often  be  observed  care- 
fully hunting  for  nutritious  particles  amongst  the 
dust  in  which  they  are  found,  turning  it  over  with 
their  heads,  and  searching  about  in  the  manner  of 


338         LEAVES  ABOUT  BOOKWORMS. 

swine.  Many  live  through  the  winter  buried  deep 
in  the  dust  to  avoid  the  frost. 

The  best  mode  of  destroying  the  insects  which 
infest  books  and  MSS.  has  often  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  possessors  of  valuable  libraries.  Sir 
Thomas  Phillips  found  the  wood  of  his  bookcase 
attacked,  particularly  where  beech  had  been  intro- 
duced, and  appeared  to  think  that  the  insect  was 
much  attracted  by  the  paste  employed  in  binding. 
He  recommended  as  preservatives  against  their 
attacks  spirits  of  turpentine  and  a  solution  of  cor- 
rosive sublimate,  and  also  the  latter  substance  mixed 
with  paste.  In  some  instances  he  found  the  pro- 
duce of  a  single  impregnated  female  sufficient  to 
destroy  a  book.  Turpentine  and  spirit  of  tar  are  also 
recommended  for  their  destruction  ;  but  the  method 
pursued  in  the  collections  of  the  British  Museum  is 
an  abundant  supply  of  camphor,  with  attention  to 
keeping  the  rooms  dry,  warm,  and  ventilated.  Mr. 
Macleay  states  it  is  the  acari  only  which  feed  on  the 
paste  employed  in  binding  books,  and  the  larvae  of 
the  Coleoptera  only  which  pierce  the  boards  and 
leaves. 

The  ravages  of  the  Bookworm  would  be  much 
more  destructive  had  there  not  been  a  sort  of  guar- 
dian to  the  literary  treasures  in  the  shape  of  a  spider, 
who,  when  examined  through  a  microscope,  resembles 
a  knight  in  armour.  This  champion  of  the  library 
follows  the  Worm  into  the  book-case,  discovers  the 
pit  he  has  digged,  rushes  on  his  victim,  which  is 


LEAVES  ABOUT  BOOKWORMS.         339 

about  his  own  size,  and  devours  him.  His  repast 
finished,  he  rests  for  about  a  fortnight,  and  when  his 
digestion  is  completed,  he  sets  out  to  break  another 
lance  with  the  enemy. 

The  Death-watch,  already  referred  to,  and  which 
must  be  acquitted  of  destroying  books,  is  chiefly 
known  by  the  noise  which  he  makes  behind  the 
wainscoting,  where  he  ticks  like  a  clock  or  watch. 
How  so  loud  a  noise  is  produced  by  so  small  an  insect 
has  never  been  properly  explained ;  and  the  ticking 
has  led  to  many  legends.  The  naturalist  Degeer 
relates  that  one  night,  in  the  autumn  of  1809,  during 
an  entomological  excursion  in  Brittany,  where  tra- 
vellers were  scarce  and  accommodation  bad,  he  sought 
hospitality  at  the  house  of  a  friend.  He  was  from 
home,  and  Degeer  found  a  great  deal  of  trouble  in 
gaining  admittance  ;  but  at  last  the  peasant  who  had 
charge  of  the  house  told  Degeer  that  he  would  give 
him  "  the  chamber  of  death,"  if  he  liked.  As  Degeer 
was  much  fatigued,  he  accepted  the  offer.  "  The  bed 
is  there,"  said  the  man,  "  but  no  one  has  slept  in  it 
for  some  time.  Every  night  the  spirit  of  the  officer, 
who  was  surprised  and  killed  in  this  room  by  some 
chouans,  comes  back.  When  the  officer  was  dead, 
the  peasants  divided  what  he  had  about  him,  and  the 
officer's  watch  fell  to  my  uncle,  who  was  delighted 
with  the  prize,  and  brought  it  home  to  examine  it. 
However,  he  soon  found  out  that  the  watch  was 
broken,  and  would  not  go.  He  then  placed  it  under 
his  pillow,  and  went  to  sleep ;  he  awoke  in  the  night, 
and  to  his  terror  heard  the  ticking  of  a  watch.  In 
Y  2 


340         LEAVES  ABOUT  BOOKWORMS. 

vain  he  sold  the  watch,  and  gave  the  money  for 
masses  to  be  said  for  the  officer's  soul,  the  ticking 
continued,  and  has  never  ceased."  Degeer  said  that 
he  would  exorcise  the  chamber,  and  the  peasant  left 
him,  after  making  the  sign  of  the  cross.  The 
naturalist  at  once  guessed  the  riddle,  and,  accus- 
tomed to  the  pursuit  of  insects,  soon  had  a  couple  of 
Death-watches  shut  up  in  a  tin  case,  and  the  ticking 
was  reproduced. 

Swift  has  prescribed  this  destructive  remedy  by 
way  of  ridicule  : — 

"  A  Wood-worm 

That  lies  in  old  wood,  like  a  hare  in  her  form  : 
With  teeth  or  with  claws  it  will  bite,  or  will  scratch  ; 
And  chambermaids  christen  this  worm  a  Death-watch, 
Because  like  a  watch  it  always  cries  click  : 
Then  woe  be  to  those  in  the  house  that  are  sick  ! 
For,  sure  as  a  gun,  they  will  give  up  the  ghost 
If  the  maggot  cries  click  when  it  scratches  the  post. 
But  a  kettle  of  scalding  hot  water  ejected, 
Infallibly  cures  the  timber  affected  : 
The  omen  is  broken,  the  danger  is  over  ; 
The  maggot  will  die,  the  sick  will  recover." 


BOEING  MARINE  ANIMALS,  AND  HUMAN 
ENGINEERS. 


[ERE  a  young  naturalist  asked  to  exemplify 
what  man  has  learned  from  the  lower 
animals,  he  could  scarcely  adduce  a  more 
striking  instance  than  that  of  a  submarine  shelly 
worker  teaching  him  how  to  execute  some  of  his 
noblest  works.  This  we  have  learned  from  the  life 
and  labours  of  the  Pholas,  of  which  it  has  been 
emphatically  said  : — "  Numerous  accounts  have  been 
published  during  the  last  fourteen  years  in  every 
civilized  country  and  language  of  the  boring  process 
of  the  P  ho  las ;  and  machines  formed  on  the  model  of 
its  mechanism  have  for  years  been  tunnelling  Mont 
Cenis." 

In  the  Eastern  Zoological  Gallery  of  the  British 
Museum,  cases  35  and  36,  as  well  as  in  the  Museum 
of  Economic  Geology  in  Piccadilly,  may  be  seen 
specimens  of  the  above  very  curious  order  of  Con- 
chifers,  most  of  the  members  of  which  are  distin- 
guished by  their  habits  of  boring  or  digging,  a 
process  in  which  they  are  assisted  by  the  peculiar 
formation  of  the  foot,  from  which  they  derive  their 
name.  Of  these  ten  families  one  of  the  most  charac- 


342  BORING    MARINE    ANIMALS, 

teristic  is  that  of  the  Razor-shells,  which,  when  the 
valves  are  shut,  are  of  a  long,  flattened,  cylindrical 
shape,  and  open  at  both  ends.  Projecting  its  strong 
pointed  foot  at  one  of  these  ends,  the  solen  can  work 
itself  down  into  the  sand  with  great  rapidity,  while 
at  the  upper  end  its  respiratory  tubes  are  shot  out  to 
bring  the  water  to  its  gills.  Of  the  Pholadce,  the 
shells  of  which  are  sometimes  called  multivalve, 
because,  in  addition  to  the  two  chief  portions,  they 
have  a  number  of  smaller  accessory  pieces,  some 
bore  in  hard  mud,  others  in  wood,  and  others  in 
rocks.  They  fix  themselves  firmly  by  the  powerful 
foot,  and  then  make  the  shell  revolve;  the  sharp 
edges  of  this  commence  the  perforation,  which  is 
afterwards  enlarged  by  the  rasp-like  action  of  the 
rough  exterior ;  and  though  the  shell  must  be  con- 
stantly worn  down,  yet  it  is  replaced  by  a  new  for- 
mation from  the  animal,  so  as  never  to  be  unfit  for 
its  purpose.  The  typical  bivalve  of  this  family  is 
the  Pholas,  which  bores  into  limestone-rock  and 
other  hard  material,  and  commits  ravages  on  the 
piers,  breakwaters,  &c.,  that  it  selects  for  a  home. 

In  the  same  family  as  the  above  Dr.  Gray  ranks 
the  Teredo,*  or  wood-boring  mollusc,  whose  ravages 
on  ships,  piles,  wooden  piers,  &c.,  at  sea  resemble 
those  of  the  white  ant  on  furniture,  joints  of  houses, 
&c.,  on  shore.  Perforating  the  timber  by  exactly 
the  same  process  as  that  by  which  the  Pholas  per- 

*  How  Brunei  took  his  construction  of  the  Thames  Tunnel 
from  observing  the  bore  of  the  Teredo  navalis  in  the  keel  of 
a  ship,  in  1814,  is  well  known. 


AND    HUMAN    ENGINEERS.  343 

forates  the  stones,  the  Teredo  advances  continually, 
eating  out  a  contorted  tube  or  gallery,  which  it 
lines  behind  it  with  calcareous  matter,  and  through 
which  it  continues  to  breathe  the  water. 

The  priority  of  the  demonstration  of  the  Pholas 
and  its  "  boring  habits  "  has  been  much  disputed. 
The  evidence  is  full  of  curious  details.  It  appears 
that  Mr.  Harper,  of  Edinburgh,  author  of  "  The 
Sea-side  and  Aquarium,"  having  claimed  the  lead, 
Mr.  Robertson,  of  Brighton,  writes  to  dispute  the 
originality ;  adding  that  he  publicly  exhibited  Pho- 
lades  in  the  Pavilion  at  Brighton  in  July,  1851,  per- 
forating chalk  rocks  by  the  raspings  of  their  valves 
and  squirtings  of  their  syphons.  Professor  Flourens 
(says  Mr.  Robertson)  taught  my  observations  to  his 
class  in  Paris  in  1853  ;  I  published  them  in  1851, 
and  again  more  fully  in  the  "  Journal  de  Conchy- 
liologie,"  in  1853 ;  and  M.  Emile  Blanchard  illus- 
trated them  in  the  same  year  in  his  "  Organisation 
du  Regne  Animal."  I  published  a  popular  account 
of  the  perforating  processes  in  "  Household  Words  " 
in  1856.  After  obtaining  the  suffrages  of  the  French 
authorities,  I  have  been  recently  honoured  with  those 
of  the  British  naturalist.  (See  Woodward's  "  Recent 
and  Fossil  Shells,"  p.  327.  Family,  Pholadidse.)  On 
returning  to  England  last  autumn  I  exhibited  per- 
forating Pholades  to  all  the  naturalists  who  cared  to 
watch  them.  An  intelligent  lady  whom  I  supplied 
with  Pholades  has  made  a  really  new  and  original 
observation,  which  I  may  take  this  opportunity  of 
communicating  to  the  public.  She  observed  two 


344  BORING    MARINE    ANIMALS, 

Pholades  whose  perforations  were  bringing  them 
nearer  and  nearer  to  each  other.  Their  mutual 
raspings  were  wearing  away  the  thin  partition  which 
separated  their  crypts.  She  was  curious  to  know 
what  they  would  do  when  they  met,  and  watched 
them  closely.  When  the  two  perforating  shellfish 
met  and  found  themselves  in  each  other's  way,  the 
stronger  just  bored  right  through  the  weaker  Pholas.* 

Mr.  Robertson  has  communicated  to  "  Jameson's 
Journal,"  No.  101,  the  results  of  his  opportunities 
of  studying  the  Pholas,  during  six  months,  to  dis- 
cover how  this  mollusc  makes  its  hole  or  crypt  in  the 
chalk  :  by  a  chemical  solvent  ?  by  absorption  ?  by 
ciliary  currents  ?  or  by  rotatory  motions  ?  Between 
twenty  and  thirty  of  these  creatures  were  at  work  in 
lumps  of  chalk,  in  sea-water,  in  a  finger-glass,  and 
open  for  three  months ;  and  by  watching  their  ope- 
rations, Mr.  Robertson  became  convinced  that  the 
Pholas  makes  its  hole  by  grating  the  chalk  with  its 
rasp-like  valves,  licking  it  up  when  pulverized  with 
its  foot,  forcing  it  up  through  its  principal  orbram- 
bial  syphon,  and  squirting  it  out  in  oblong  nodules. 
The  crypt  protects  the  Pholas  from  conferva,  which, 
when  they  get  at  it,  grow  not  merely  outside,  but 
even  with  the  lips  of  the  valves,  preventing  the 
action  of  the  syphons.  In  the  foot  there  is  a  gela- 
tinous spring  or  style,  which,  even  when  taken  out, 
has  great  elasticity,  and  which  seems  the  mainspring 
of  the  motions  of  the  Pholas. 

Upon  this  Dr.  James  Stark,  of  Edinburgh,  writes  : 
*  "  Athenaeum,"  No.  1640. 


AND    HUMAN    ENGINEERS.  345 

— "  Mr.  Robertson,  of  Brighton,  claims  the  merit  of 
teaching  that  Pholades  perforate  rocks  by  ( the  rasp- 
ing of  their  valves  and  the  squirting  of  their 
syphons.'  His  observations  only  appear  to  reach 
back  to  1851.  But  the  late  Mr.  John  Stark,  of 
Edinburgh,  author  of  the  i  Elements  of  Natural  His- 
tory,' read  a  paper  before  the  Royal  Society  of  Edin- 
burgh, in  1826,  which  was  printed  in  the  Society's 
i  Transactions '  of  that  year,  in  which  he  demon- 
strated that  the  Pholades  perforate  the  shale  rocks 
in  which  they  occur  on  this  coast,  by  means  of  the 
rasping  of  their  valves,  and  not  by  acids  or  other 
secretions.  From  also  finding  that  their  shells 
scratched  limestone  without  injury  to  the  fine  rasp- 
ing rugosities,  he  inferred  that  it  was  by  the  same 
agency  they  perforated  the  hard  limestone  rocks." 

To  this  Mr.  Robertson  replies,  that  Mr.  Osier  also, 
in  1826,  demonstrated  that  the  Pholades  "perforate 
the  shale  rocks  by  means  of  the  rasping  of  their 
valves ;  and  more,  for  he  actually  witnessed  a 
rotatory  movement.  But  Reaumur  and  Poli  had 
done  as  much  as  this  in  the  eighteenth  and  Sibbald 
in  the  seventeenth  century :  and  yet  I  found  the 
solvent  hypothesis  in  the  ascendant  among  natu- 
ralists in  1835,  when  I  first  interested  myself  in  the 
controversy.  What  I  did  in  1851  was,  I  exhibited 
Pholades  at  work  perforating  rocks,  and  explained 
how  they  did  it.  What  I  have  done  is,  I  have  made 
future  controversy  impossible,  by  exhibiting  the 
animals  at  work,  and  by  discovering  the  anatomy 
and  the  physiology  of  the  perforating  instruments. 


346  BORING    MARINE    ANIMALS, 

In  the  words  of  M.  Flourens,  ( I  made  the  animals 
work  before  my  eyes/  and  I  '  made  known  their 
mechanism.'  The  discovery  of  the  function  of  the 
hyaline  stylet  is  not  merely  a  new  discovery,  it  is  the 
discovery  of  a  kind  of  instrument  as  yet  unique  in 
physiology." 

Mr.  Harper  having  termed  the  boring  organ  of  the 
Pholas  the  "hyaline  stylet,"  found  it  to  have  puzzled 
some  of  the  disputants,  whereupon  Mr.  Harper 
writes  : — "  Its  use  up  to  the  present  time  has  been  a 
mystery,  but  the  general  opinion  of  authors  seems  to 
be,  that  it  is  the  gizzard  of  the  Pholas.  This  I  very 
much  doubt,  for  it  is  my  belief  that  the  presence  of 
such  an  important  muscle  is  solely  for  the  purpose 
of  aiding  the  animal's  boring  operations.  Being 
situated  in  the  centre  of  the  foot,  we  can  readily  con- 
ceive the  great  increase  of  strength  thus  conveyed  to 
the  latter  member,  which  is  made  to  act  as  a  powerful 
fulcrum,  by  the  exercise  of  which  the  animal  rotates 
— and  at  the  same  time  presses  its  shell  against  and 
rasps  the  surface  of  the  rock.  The  question  being 
asked,  '  How  can  the  stylet  be  procured  to  satisfy 
curiosity  ?  '  I  answer,  by  adopting  the  following 
extremely  simple  plan.  Having  disentombed  a 
specimen,  with  the  point  of  a  sharp  instrument  cut 
a  slit  in  the  base  of  its  foot,  and  the  object  of  your 
search  will  be  distinctly  visible  in  the  shape  of,  if  I 
may  so  term  it,  an  opal  cylinder.  Sometimes  I  have 
seen  the  point  of  this  organ  spring  out  beyond  the 
incision,  made  as  above  described." 

Lastly,  Mr.  Harper  presented  the  Editor  of  the 


AND    HUMAN    ENGINEERS.  347 

"  Athenseum  "  with  a  piece  of  bored  rock,  of  whicli 
he  has  several  specimens.  He  adds,  "  On  examina- 
tion, you  will  perceive  that  the  larger  Pholas  must 
have  bored  through  its  smaller  and  weaker  neighbour 
(how  suggestive!),  the  shell  of  the  latter,  most 
fortunately,  remaining  in  its  own  cavity." 

Now,  Mr.  Robertson  claimed  for  his  observation 
of  this  phenomenon  novelty  and  originality ;  but 
Mr.  Harper  stoutly  maintained  it  to  be  "  as  common 
to  the  eye  of  the  practised  geologist  as  rain  or  sun- 
shine." The  details  are  curious  ;  though  some  im- 
patient, and  not  very  grateful  reader,  may  imagine 
himself  in  the  condition  of  the  shell  of  the  smaller 
Pholas,  and  will  be,  as  he  deserves  to  remain,  in  the 
minority.* 

It  may  be  interesting  to  sum  up  a  few  of  the 
opinions  of  the  mode  by  which  these  boring  opera- 
tions are  performed.  Professor  Forbes  states  the 
mode  by  which  Molluscs  bore  into  wood  and  other 
materials  is  as  follows  : — "  Some  of  the  Gauterspods 
have  tongues  covered  with  silica  to  enable  them  to 
bore,  and  it  was  probably  by  some  process  of  this 
kind  that  all  the  Molluscs  bored." 

Mr.  Peach  never  observed  the  species  of  Pholas  to 
turn  round  in  their  holes,  as  stated  by  some  obser- 
vers, although  he  had  watched  them  with  great 
attention.  Mr.  Charlesworth  refers  to  the  fact  that, 
in  one  species  of  shell,  not  only  does  the  hole  in  the 

*  See  also  "  Life  in  the  Sea,"  in  "  Strange  Stories  of  the 
Animal  World,"  by  the  author  of  the  present  volume. 
Second  Edition.  1868. 


348  BORING   MARINE    ANIMALS,    ETC. 

rock  which  the  animal  occupies  increase  in  size,  but 
also  the  hole  through  which  it  projects  its  syphons. 

Professor  John  Phillips,  alluding  to  the  theories 
which  have  been  given  of  the  mode  in  which  Mol- 
luscs bore  into  the  rocks  in  which  they  live,  believes 
that  an  exclusively  mechanical  theory  will  not 
account  for  the  phenomenon;  and  he  is  inclined  to 
adopt  the  view  of  Dr.  T.  Williams — that  the  boring 
of  the  Pholades  can  only  be  explained  on  the  prin- 
ciple which  involves  a  chemical  as  well  as  a  me- 
chanical agency. 

Mr.  E.  Hay  Lankester  notices  that  the  boring 
of  Annelids  seems  quite  unknown;  and  he  men- 
tions two  cases,  one  by  a  worm  called  Leucadore, 
the  other  by  a  Sabella.  Leucadore  is  very  abun- 
dant on  some  shores,  where  boulders  and  pebbles 
may  be  found  worm-eaten  and  riddled  by  them. 
Only  stones  composed  of  carbonate  of  lime  are 
bored  by  them.  On  coasts  where  such  stones  are 
rare,  they  are  selected,  and  others  are  left.  The 
worms  are  quite  soft,  and  armed  only  with  horny 
bristles.  How,  then,  do  they  bore  ?  Mr.  Lankester 
maintains  that  it  is  by  carbonic  acid  and  other  acid 
excretions  of  their  bodies,  aided  by  the  mechanical 
action  of  their  bristles.  The  selection  of  a  material 
soluble  in  these  acids  is  most  noticeable,  since  the 
softest  chalk  and  the  hardest  limestone  are  bored 
with  the  same  facility.  This  can  only  be  by  chemical 
action.  If,  then,  we  have  a  case  of  chemical  boring 
in  these  worms,  is  it  not  probable  that  many  Molluscs 
are  similarly  assisted  in  their  excavations  ? 


INDEX. 


A  NCIENT  Zoological  Gardens,  12 

**  Animals,  Rare,  of  London  Zoolo- 
gical Society,  16,  17,  18 

Annelids,  boring,  348 

Annelids  and  Molluscs,  Boring  Habits 
of,  348 

Ant-Bear  in  captivity,  76 

Ant-Bear,  the  Great,  72 

Ant-Bear  at  Madrid,  72 

Ant-Bear  described,  77 

Ant-Bear,  Domestic,  in  Paraguay,  75 

Ant-Bear,  Economy  of,  76 

Ant-Bear  and  its  Food,  74 

Ant-Bears,  Fossil,  80,  81 

Ant-Bear,  Muscular  Force  of,  79 

Ant-Bear,  Wallace's  Account  of,  73 

Ant-Bear,  Zoological  Society's,  76,  82. 
84 

Ant-Eater,  Porcupine,  84 

Ant-Bear,  Professor  Owen  on,  80 

Ant-Eaters,  scarcity  of,  80 

Ant-Eater,  Tamandra,  82 

Ant-Eaters,  Von  Saek's  Account  of,  83 

Aristotle's  History  of  Animals,  279, 280 

•gARNACLE  GEE3E,  finding  of  the, 

Barnacle  Goose,  Gerarde  on,  332 
Barnacle   Goose,   Giraldus  Cambren- 

sis  on,  332 

Barnacle  Goose,  Max  Mttller  on,  331 
Barnacle  Goose,  name  of,  332 
Barnacle  Goose,  Sir  E.  Tennent  on,  334 
Barnacle  Goose,  SirKenelm  Digby  on, 

334 

Barnacle  Goose,  Sir  R.  Moray  OP,  331 
Barnacle  Goose,  Stories  of  the,  331-335 
Barnacles  breeding  upon  old  ships,  333 
Barnacle  Geese  in  the  Thames,  331 
Bat,  altivolans,  by  Gilbert  White,  100 
Bat,  American,  by  Lesson,  91 
Bat,  Aristotle  on,  85 
Bat,  Mr.  Bell  on,  86 
Bats,  Curiosities  of,  85 
Bat,  described  by  Calmet,  87 
Bat,  Flight  and  Wing  of,  96 
Bats,  in  England,  100 


Bat,  Heber,  Stedman,  and  Waterton 
on,  91 

Bats  in  Jamaica,  100 

Bat,  Kalong,  of  Java,  98 

Bat,  Long-Eared,  by  Sowerby,  92,  93-96 

Bat,  Nycteris,  97 

Bat,  Reremouse  and  Flittermouse,  86 

Bat  Skeleton,  Sir  C.  Bell  on,  87 

Bat  in  Scripture,  85 

Bat,  Vampire,  from  Sumatra,  88 

Bat,  Vampire,  Lines  on,  by  Byron,  89 

Bat,  vulgar  errors  respecting,  97 

Bat- Fowling  or  Bat-Folding,  92 

Berlin  Zoological  Gardens  and  Mu- 
seum, 16 

Bible  Natural  History,  11 

Birds,  Addi-on  on  their  Nests  and 
Music,  156, 157 

Bird,  Australian  Bower,  Nest  of,  167 

Bird,  Baya,  Indian,  Nest  of,  164 

Birds  and  Animals,  Beauty  in,  150 

Birds,  Brain  of,  154 

B  rds,  Characteristics  of,  145 

Birds,  Colour  of,  148 

Bird  Confinement,  Dr.  Livingstone  on, 
169 

Birds'  Eggs,  large,  162 

Birds'  Eggs,  Colours  of,  158 

Birds'  Eggs  and  Nests,  158 

Birds,  European,  list  of,  161 

Birds,  Flight  of, '146,  147 

Birds,  Insectivorous,  151;  Instinct, 
Intelligence,  and  Reason,  217 

Bird-Life,  145 

Bird-Murder,  wanton,  152 

Birds'  Nesting,  159 

Birds'  Nests— Cape  Swallows,  168 

Birds'  Nests— Brush  Turkey,  171 

Birds'  Nests,  large,  164 

Birds'  Eggs— Ostrich  and  Epyornis, 
162,  163 

Birds'  Nests— Tailor  Birds.  165-167 

Birds,  Rapid  Flight  of,  147 

Birds,  Signal  of  Danger  among,  155 

Birds,  Song  of,  149 

Birds,  Mr.  Wolley's  Collections,  159, 


350 


INDEX. 


Bookworms,  Leaves  about,  336 
Bookworms  and  Death-watch,  337 
Boring  Marine  Animals,  and  Human 
Engineers,  341 

pHAMELEON  of  the  Ancients,  306 
U    Chameleon's  antipathy  to  black, 

322 

Chameleons,  Mrs.  Belzoni's,  316  320 
Chameleons,  Birth  of,  in  England,  321 
Chameleon  changing  Colour,  311,  316 
Chameleon,  Cuvier  on,  309 
Chameleon,  described  by  Calmet,  307 
Chameleon  Family,  307 
Chameleon,  Air-food  of,  309 
Chameleon,    Milne*  Edwards  on  its 

Change  of  Colour,  314  316 
Chameleons,  Native  Countries  of,  316 
Chameleon  of  the  Poets,  308 
Chameleons,  Reproduction  of,  309 
Chameleon,  Tongue  and  Eyes  of,  310, 

311 

Chinese  Zoological  Gardens,  12 
Cicada,  Song  of  the,  329 
Cormorant's  Bone,  curious,  204 
Cormorants,  Chase  of,  203 
Cormorant  Fishery  in  China,  202 
Cormorant,  Habits  of  the,  201 
Cormorant  trained  for  Fishing,  201 
Curiosities  of  Zoology,  11 

TnCCENTRICITIES  of  Penguins,  188  : 
-"  Darwin,  Mr.,  his  account  of  Falk- 
land Islands  Penguin,  192 ;  Dassent 
Island  Penguins,  188 ;  Death-watch 
and  Bookworm,  337,  338 ;  Falkland 
Islands  Penguins,  189;  King  Pen- 
guins, 191 ;  P*tagonian  Penguins, 
189 ;  Penguin,  the  name,  194 ; 
Webster,  Mr.,  his  Account  of  Pen- 
guins, 193 

Epicure's  Ortolan,  the,  172 
Epicurism  Extravagant,  177 
Evelyn  and  St.  James's  Physique  Gar- 
den, 15 

EISH    in    British   Colombia,    280 
Candle-fish,  282;   Octopus,  283 
Salmon  Army,  281  ;  Spoonbill  Stur 
jreon,  285  ;  Sturgeons,  and  Sturgeon 
Fishing,  284—287 

Fish-Talk,  25G :  Affection  of  Fishes 
256;  Bohemian  Wels  Fish,  270 
Bonita  and  Flying  Fish,  263 ;  Cali 
fornian  Fish,  268;  Carp  at  Fon 
tainebleau,  254 ;  Cat-fish,  curious 
Account  of,  257  ;  Double  Fish,  272 
Fish  changing  Colour,  251 :  Fish 
Noise,  252;  Gold  Fish,  274;  Gram 


pus,  gambols  of,  262  ;  Great  General 
of  the  South  Sea,  272  ;  Grouper,  the. 
272 ;  Hassar,  the,  256  Hearing  of 
Fishes,  253;  Herring  Puzzle,  278; 
Jaculator  Fish  of  Java,  264; 
Jamaica,  Curious  Fish  at,  266; 
Little  Fishes  the  Food  of  Larger, 
259 ;  Marine  Obs  rvatory,  276 ; 
Mecho  "f  the  Danube,  270 ;  Migra- 
tion of  Fishes,  260 ;  Miller's  Thumb, 
276  ;  Numbers,  vast,  of  Fishes,  258 ; 
Pike,  Wonderful,  269 ;  Pilot  Fish, 
267;  Sharks,  267;  Singing  Fish, 
252  ;  Square-browed  Malthe,  274  ; 
Strange  Fishes,  251 ;  Sun-fish,  271 ; 
Swimming  of  Fishes,  250;  Sword- 
fish,  266:  Warrior  Fish,  266 
Frog  and  Toad  Concerts,  327 

TTEDGEHOG,  the,  102 

•"•    Hedgehog     devouring    Snakes, 

104 

Hedgehog,  Food  of,  103 
Hedgehogs  Gilbert  White  on,  107 
Hedgehog  and  Poisons,  105 
Hedgehogs,  Sir  T.  Browne  on,  102 
Hedgehog  Sucking  Cows,  104 
Hedgehog  and  Viper,  Fight  between, 

106,  107 

Hedgehog,  Voracity  of,  103 
Hippopotamus,  Ancient  History  of, 

119 
Hippopotamus,  described  by  Aristotle 

and  Herodotus,  121 
Hippopotamus,  Economy  of  the,  115 
Hippopotamus,  the,  in  England,  108 
Hippopotami,  Fosn',  122 
Hippopotami  on  the  Niger,  117 
Hippopotamus,  Professor  Owen's  De- 
scription of,  111-115 
Hippopotamus  and  River  Horse,  116 
Hippopotamus  in  Scripture,  120 
Hippopotamus,  Utility  of,  118 
Hippopotamus  from  the  White  Nile, 

109 
Hippopotamus,   Zoological  Society's, 

in  1850,  108—111 

T  EAVES  about  Bookworms,  336 
•H    Lions    in    Algeria,    and    Jules 

Gerard,  143 
Lion,  African,  131 
Lion,  Bengal,  133 
Lion  described  by  Bennett,  123 
Lion  described  by  Buffon,  123—125 
Lion  described  by  Burchell,  125 
Lion,  disappearance  of,  130 
Lion  and  Hottentots,  132,  133—136 
Lion-hunting  Feats,  128 
Lion,  "  King  of  the  Forest,"  126 


INDEX. 


351 


Lion,  Longevity  of,  137 

Lion,  Maneless,  133 — 135 

Lion,  Niebuhr  on,  131 

Lion  in  the  Nineveh  Sculptures,  139. 

140 

Lions,  the  Drudhoe,  144 
Lions,  Popular  Errors  respecting,  123 
Lion,    Prickle  or  Claw  in  the  Tail, 

137—139 

Lion,  Roar  of,  136 
Lions  in  the  Tower  of  London,  140 
"  Lion  Tree  "  in  the  Mantatee  Country, 

Lion  Stories  of  the  Shows,  142 

Lion-Talk,  123 

Lieness  and  her  Young,  135 

-VfERMAID  of  1822,  43—47 

-iyA-    Mermaid  in  Berbice,  39 

Mermaid  in  the  Bosphurus,  47 

Mermaid  and  Dugong,  41 

Mermaids,  Evidences  of,  36 

Mermaid  at  Exmouth,  40 

Mermaid,  Leyden's  Hallad,  35 

Mermaid  and  Manatee,  42 

Mermaid  at  Milford  Haven,  37 

Mermaid,  Japanese,  44 

Mermaid,  Scottish,  36,  38 

Mermaids  and  Sirens,  33 

Mermaid's  Suug,  Haydn's,  34 

Mermaids,  st»ries  t;f,  33 

Merm  lid.  Structure  <  f,  43 

Mermaids  in  Suffolk,  48 

Mole,  its  Economy  controverted,  62 

Mole,  the  Ettrick  Shepherd  on,  71 

Mole,  Le  Cmirt  on,  62,  65 

Mole  and  Fairy  Kings,  64 

Mole  and  Fanning,  70 

Mole,  Feeling  of,  64 

Mole  at.  Home,  62 

Mole,  its  Hunting-ground,  67 

Moles,  Loves  of  the,  68 

Mole,  structure  of  the,  63 

Mole,  St.  Hilaire  on,  69 

Mole,  Shrew,  of  North  America,  70 

Mole,  Voracity  of,  68 

Montezuma's  Zoological  Gardens,  13 

Musical  Lizard,  303  ;  Climbing  Walls, 

303,  304  ;  Formosa  Isle,  303  ;  Gecko 

ennobled,  306 

ORNITHOLOGICAL  SOCIETY,  15 
"    Ortolan  described,  172,  173 
Ortolans,  how  fattened,  174 
Ortolan,  Mr.  Gould  on,  174,  175 
Owls,  221 :  Abyssinian  Owl,  230  ;  Barn 
Owl,  226;  Bischaco,  or  Coquimbo, 
224 ;  Boobook  Owl,  228 ;   Cats  and 
Owls,  230  ;  Eraser's  Eagle  Owl,  from 
Fernando  Po,  229 ;  Food  of  Owls, 


226  :  Javanese  Owl,  228 ;  Snowy  Owl, 
227 ;  Tricks  by  Night,  224 ;  Utility 
of,  225  ;  Waterton  on  the  Owl,  225 

"DELICANS  and  Cormorants,  195 

Pelicans  described  by  Gould,  195 
Pelican  in  Japan,  197 
Pelican  Popular  Error,  198,  199 
Pelican  Pouches,  198 
Pelican  Symbol,  200 
"  Pelican  of  the  Wilderness,"  197 
Pholas,  Life  and  Labours  of.  341 
Pholades,    Charlesworth   and  Peach 

on,  347 

Pholades,  Harper  on,  346 
Pholades,  Robertson  on,  343 

T>  HINOCEROS  in  England,  22  : 
••*  African  Rhinoceros  in  1858,  27 ; 
Ancient  History,  23 ;  Bruce  and 
Sparmann,  27 ;  Burchell's  shooting, 
30 ;  Horn  of  the  Rhinoceros,  31,  32  ; 
Indian  Wild  Ass,  24;  One-horned 
and  Two-horned,  23-26  ;  Scripture, 
Rhinoceros  of,  23  ;  Speehnan's  Rhi- 
noceros Shooting,  30;  Tegetmeir 
describes  the  African  Rhinoceros, 
27:  Tractability,  25;  Varieties  of 
Rhinoceros,  22  ;  Zoological  Society's 
Rhinoceros,  23,  29 

a  ALE  of  Wild  Animals,  20 

°    Sentinel  Birds,  183 

Song  of  the  Cicada,  329 

Songs  of  Birds  and  Seasons  of   the 

Day,  219 

St.  James's  Park  Menagerie,  14 
Stories  of  the  Barnacle  Goose,  331- 

335 

Stories  of  Mermaids,  33 
Surrey  Zoological  Gardens,  20 

mALKING  BIRDS,  205 :  Bittern  and 
x  Night  Raven,  207  ;  Blue  Jay,  206  • 
Canaries,  Talking,  210-212  ;  Chinese 
Starling,  205 ;  Crowned  Crane,  206  ; 
Cuckoo,  209  ;  Laughing  Goose,  209  ; 
Nightingale,  209 ;  Piping  Crow,  205 ; 
Snipe,  Neighing,  213  ;  Trochilosand 
Ciocodile,  216  ;  Urn1  rella  Bird,  206 ; 
Whidaw  Bird.  205  :  Wild  Swan,  209  ; 
Woodpecker  at  Constantinople,  215 
Talk  about  Toucans,  179:  Bills  of 
Toucans,  180;  Carnivorous  pro- 
pensity, 184;  Economy  of,  182; 
Food  of,  183  ;  Gould,  Mr.,  his 
Grand  Monograph,  180,  186 ;  Owen, 
Professor,  on  the  Mandibles,  185  : 
Swainson,  Mr.,  on  Toucans,  185 


352 


INDEX. 


Toucan  Family,  179,  180;  White 
Ants'  Nests,  183 ;  Toucanet,  Gould's, 
184 

Toad  and  Frog  Concerts,  327-328 
Toads,    Running,    Dr.    Husenbeth's, 

323-327 

Tower  of  London  Menagerie,  14 
Tree-climbing  Crab,  the,  288:  Bern- 
hard,  Hermit,  and  Soldier  Crab, 
291;  Climbing  Perch.  288;  Crab, 
Burrowing,  290 ;  Crab  Migration 
in  Jamaica,  292  ;  Fishing-frogs,  288 ; 
Glass  Crabs,  301 ;  Pill-making  Crabs, 
301 ;  Purse  Crab  feeding  on  Cocoa- 
nuts,  296 ;  Robber  Crab,  292  ;  Screw- 
pines,  Crab  climbing,  295 ;  Vaulted 
Crab  of  the  Moluccas,  291 

TTNICORNS,  ancient,  51 

1     Unicorn  and  Antelope,  53 
Unicorn  in  Central  Africa,  58 
Unicorn  described  by  Ctesias,  49,  50 
Unicorn,  Cuvier  on,  54 
Unicorn,  Is  it  Fabulous  ?  49 
Unicorn,  Klaproth  on,  55 


Unicorn  in  Kordofan,  53 
Unicorn  and  its  Horn,  53,  59 
Unicorn,  modern,  50 
Unicorn,  Ogilby  on,  51 
Unicorn,  Rev.  J.  Campbell  on,  57 
Unicorn  hi  the  Royal  Arms,  60 

T1TEATHERWISE  ANIMALS,  231  : 
"  Ants,  Asses,  241 ;  Darwin's  Signs 
of  Rain,  248 ;  Frogs  and  Snails,  237- 
240 ;  List  of  Animals,  241-247  ;  Mole, 
240 ;  Mother  Carey's  Chickens  and 
Goose,  234;  Redbreast,  236;  Sea- 
gulls, 232  ;  Signs  of  Rain,  232  ; 
Stormy  Petrels,  233  ;  Shenherd  of 
Banbury,  249  ;  Toucans,  237  ;  Wea- 
therproof Birds'  Nests,  247;  Wild 
Geese  and  Ducks,  235 

Wild  Animals,  Cost  of,  19 

Wild  Beast  Shows,  21 

^OOLOGICAL  GARDENS,  Origin  of, 

Zoological  Society  of  London,  16 
Zoology,  Curiosities  of,  11 


C  A.  Macintosh,  Printer,  Great  New-street,  London. 


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